#i’ve said this before but my art style really does not lend itself well to being sexy

[dcrankamateur]

Dawn of DC Comics – 3rd October – Fire and Ice, Blue Beetle and Birds of Prey #2s

My focus this week is on the second issues of Fire and Ice, Birds of Prey and Blue Beetle. After strong starts for all three series, the second issues varied drastically in terms of tone and pace to somewhat mixed results.

Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville #2

On a two axis scale of tragedy – comedy and deliberative – frenetic on tone and pace respectively, the frenetic comedy of Fire and Ice worked best for me this week. Joanne Starer and Natacha Bustos’ sitcom-style storytelling suits the diametrically opposite personalities of Fire and Ice well. Where the last issue ended on somewhat of a downbeat, with Tora announcing to Bea that she no longer wanted to be a superhero, the mere fact that these two women with such a rich history but with wildly differing aspirations and motivations have to live under one roof lends itself brilliantly to comedy.

In her conceptions of both characters, Starer is blatantly as sticking to type to accentuate the awkwardness of the pairing. Tora is the bookish hipster with a desire to expand her interests and cooling on the superhero game whereas for Bea the need to prove herself burns brighter than ever. The plot ratchets up to pure absurdity as their Smallville Barber Shop becomes inundated with the minnows of the supervillain world before becoming a low budget reality TV show with Big Brother style diary rooms held in the toilets, much to a queuing and increasingly desperate Tam’s chagrin. Bustos’ art is quite classically cartoonish in this issue, with over the top reactions from background characters in particular emphasising the farcical nature of Bea’s plan and its effect on Tora. The jokes really landed and I found myself laughing throughout. But the fun does stop eventually as Bea’s social media experiment begins to verge on dangerous, and tensions fray between her and Tora once again. However, in classic sitcom fashion, the arrival of Jimmy Olsen at the end of the issue ensures that Bea and Tora live to fight another die.

Blue Beetle #2

That said, Bea and Tora are certainly better off in their own series than they are during their appearance in the tragic and frenetic Blue Beetle #2. After an initial moment of contemplation as Ted Kord lies injured in hospital, in which Tora comforts Jaime, the issue moves at a million miles an hour as the Blood Scarab rips through the supporting cast of the issue one by one before getting to Jaime and declaring that that’s enough for one issue, thanks. Be back soon.

The action scenes are so dynamic and fast moving without being overwhelming largely because writer Josh Trujillo trusts Adrian Gutierrez to convey the chaos during these scenes. Occasional dialogue, typically reserved for characters remarking upon how screwed they are, serves as framing for Gutierrez’s creative use of panelling, which evokes the feeling of the Blood Scarab closing in on its victim, leaving them nowhere to run.

As a new reader my biggest issue with this series so far is that I actually don’t know much about Jaime Reyes himself so I’ve found it harder to connect with him than with the characters I’ve been introduced to in other Dawn of DC stories. This is not the writer’s fault, and I’m certainly not advocating a return to Shooter’s Marvel of the 80s where the first page gives you the entire character’s history all over again. I may be getting into background reading and research time which I believe is absolutely fine to expect of a reader, although not within the scope of this project initially.

Birds of Prey #2

In stark contrast to Blue Beetle, Birds of Prey #2 was rather more introspective and dialogue focussed. The team dynamics, by design, continue to be comedically awkward with each team members’ motivations being tested by a mission they signed up to without full possession of the facts. The pop art style doesn’t quite work as well as it did in Issue 1, with the lengthy conversations between team members feeling quite stiff. Bellaire’s colours feel slightly washed out because of the darkness of the setting (a dimly lit basement room), which contributes to this lack of momentum in the scene. The tension between Harley Quinn and Black Canary drive provide the scenes with the most comedic energy, but the other team feels peripheral. This means that when characters like Zealot and Barda receive a bit of focus, they are brief and less compelling. The series in its early stage are an intentional pivot away from the warmth and friendship of Gail Simone’s conception of the team, which can make it feel unrecognisable as a Birds of Prey series at times. That said, friendships aren’t forged overnight, and there are already signs of promise between Barda and Cassandra Cain for example, so I’m not writing this off as a destination point for the series.

Where the issue does excel is in the fight scenes, where Romero’s style becomes much more kinetic, with the setting lending itself far more to pops of pastel colours. This issue serves as a bridge between the opening salvo of the team come together for the first time and their mission in Themyscira. With the team leaving the darkened basement and taking to the sea, King Shark in tow, the comedic tone to the series should come into its own.

[codgod-moved]

shout out to that anon. this vision plagued me and i had to get it out of my head

i feel like rocky would admonish me if i didn’t taglist this so

@veryfoolishgamers @t4tcecilos @axe-of-ender @empiressmp @the3rddenialist @moonlight22oa @rockydrago @funkily @renchanters @popcornsalty @suurrii @thatonesheep @cabbagetwunk @treeofwhimsy @weaselmcdiesel @peskybirb @flyingfish1234 @viridian-artist @cobrawaifu @griancraft @c0nstantparanoia @yanyawnyan @f4rlands @gayboybdubs @aquello-main @saiiboat @itsafangirlthing416 @booisghost @angiemelon @littlehaterboy

[gothamcityneedsme]

I saw this bouncing around my dash and decided to fill it out myself for fun :)  I decided to not double-list any games, and I tried to mix up the companies I used too so that the list would be more unique.

Long post, so I’m doing a readmore for my longwinded part lol.

(read more)

Favorite Game: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - I could talk about this game forever.  How it tears apart the Star Wars universe from within, how it creates a compelling story while challenging the usual themes, etc.  I could talk for ages about the characters and how their motivations slot in place, and how this game lends itself to interpretation and analysis alongside roleplay.  It’s just a wonderful game, one I deeply love and will always love.  It’s a game that isn’t afraid to have you talk to other characters for twenty or thirty minutes at a time and honestly I’m always riveted at every line.  This game deserves the cult fanbase it has, but I think there’s a lot the fanbase misses in appreciating this game.  (Note...gameplay is a little janky and a community made mod restores a lot content that was cut before shipping-the game wasn’t properly finished).

Best Story:  Fallout New Vegas - It’s the setting that makes the story here, and all the moving pieces and factions alongside the main conflict really make this game stand out.  There’s so many little pieces to find along the way in the world and the way the main quest splits based on who you want in power feels important--and you are choosing a future for this whole region.

Favorite Art Style: The Witness - This game is peacefully wonderful with its visuals.  There are wonderful nature scenes and nests of wires and panels spreading in various parts of the island that are fascinating to look at.  The environment is half of the gameplay in most areas, so it’s important to look around even though exploration is not really the gameplay.  You find puzzles in the world, even in nature, and it’s fascinating.  The colors are bright and beautiful.  There is even a map in the middle of the island inside of a lake that helps you track your progress if you notice it (it isn’t like a normal ‘map’).

Favorite Soundtrack: Shin Megami Tensei IV - I love video game soundtracks, but SMTIV is something special.  The music booms in ways that make you really understand the atmosphere of the world, and there’s a great mix of different kinds of tracks for different places.  I love the tracks for the other worlds you enter, and the themes of the different routes are done so well.  Some of the music draws from past SMT games, but the remixes done for this game really are stunning to me, and there’s so many fantastic original tracks.

Hardest Game: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream - I love this game but I literally never touch it without a walkthrough, which is why it gets to be the hardest game on the list, despite being a point and click adventure game lol.  Also just emotionally this game is challenging too, but I definitely mean this more in terms of getting a ‘perfect run’.

Funniest Game: The Stanley Parable - Trying to make this list has taught me that I don’t really play many ‘funny games’.  I don’t know if a game where multiple endings demand that you kill yourself should count as a ‘funniest game’, but it is also a game where the narrator tells you to stare at a fern and memorize its features, so....it counts.

Game I Like that is Hated: RWBY Grimm Eclipse - I’ve been playing this game since it was in early access and have loved it the whole time.  I find the gameplay soothing and fun, and I like playing the different characters.  It’s a game I play to chill out and just enjoy some fun battle mechanics.  It’s a fun game and I’ve spent over 100 hours in it, so I hope I like it, lol.

Game I Hate that is Liked:  Nier Automata - Neither this game’s gameplay or story impress me, and the fact that you have to replay basically the same stuff from a more boring-to-play-character’s pov in order to SEE all of the plot is a huge damper on the experience.  The story, to me, someone who engages with a lot of robot-focused fiction, is far from impressive or new, and it hardly engages with genre specifics at all, let alone in a new or interesting way.  I view this game as ‘a story with robots in it’ rather than ‘a story about robots’, which, to me, is a detriment.

Underrated: Nevermind - This game is amazing and very unheard of--and when it is heard of, it has been marketed incorrectly.  Nevermind seems like a horror game, and does market itself as one a bit, but it’s much more than that.  It’s more about trauma, recovery, therapy, etc.  This is a game that is so mindful about the topics it engages in that I am impressed by it every time.  It’s heavy with symbolism and character, despite lacking conversations or other similar game mechanics.  This is a lovely game that I really wish more people knew about-`p5-all of the patients are so interesting, and the focus on recovery and mental health is impressive.

Overrated:  Fire Emblem - I sort of mean this as the series as a whole really.  I have enjoyed the entries I have played somewhat, but I overall consider the series much less impressive than I was led to believe by others.  The gameplay especially is not impressive to me in any regard, even though I sometimes do find myself enjoying it.  The stories are alright, but many of them are weighed down by the gameplay and as a writer and person who likes to analyze writing, it’s very hard to do so when it isn’t able to fully exist under the chains the gameplay forces on it.  There are ways to mix gameplay and story well, Fire Emblem has not really done that in any of the entries I’ve played.  That being said, I don’t regret playing them, and I will occasionally replay, but I consider them mediocre games at best.

Best Voice Acting: Devil Survivor 2 - I love the voice acting in this game.  I feel like all the characters are really suited to their voices, and it’s really easy for me to visualize their voices.  They really bring the game to life and make both the dramatic and the funny scenes more enjoyable.

Worst Voice Acting: Jedi Knight Jedi Academy - I love this game, I really do, but some of the voice acting is janky.  Some of it is okay too--I think Kyle Katarn’s voice actor does fine, and some of the others I like NOW but hated when I was a kid, but the male protagonist voice in this game is just awful.  Which is bad when Jennifer Hale is the female voice actress lol.  His performance is passable though unless you’re playing darksided--the darksided ending to the game lacks all punch when you’re playing the male protagonist.

Favorite Male:  Battler Ushiromiya from Umineko no Naku Koro Ni - He’s the protagonist for most of the visual novels and I adore him utterly, especially once you move past episode 2.  He’s a wonderful character who I care about deeply.  I love his drive and how he fights--he’s someone who is easy to cheer for.  He matures well throughout the series and his character development is just wonderful.

Favorite Female:  Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 - I really like how Naoto fits so well in the game, especially for being a final recruit--oftentimes the final recruit of Persona games (post 3) have a bit of a more difficult time feeling right with the group.  Naoto works really well though, and I love her struggles and story as well.  I think the difficulties she has concerning living as a woman in her field hit very deep to a problem that has existed for a very long time.

Favorite Protagonist: Connor of Daventry from King’s Quest 8 Mask of Eternity - I’m like, one of four fans of this character in the world, lol.  KQ8 is not a very well liked game and it does have a lot of issues, both with age and with how much of a departure it is from the series prior to it.  It’s strange to take a puzzle adventure game and make it a hybrid with what basically is a shooter, and it doesn’t really work.  Add to that the fact that you spend most of your time in the game without anyone around to talk to and it leads to this really polarizing and weird experience.  For me, Conner goes through what I would consider to be the ‘Ultimate Nightmare Scenario”.  Everyone in the world is turned to stone except him (and he survived out of mere chance) and so now it’s up to him, practically alone, to save the entire world.  There is no game lonelier than this.  I adore him for his bravery in the face of it, and how he just picks up to do what must be done because someone should do it, and if no one else can, then he will.  I also really love how he apologizes to people who are encased in stone while he takes money from their houses to help him on his journey.  I really do think he went back after the game was over and gave everyone heaps of gold to pay them back with interest lol.

Favorite Village:  Oakvale from Fable - The first Fable is the only one I really like, and it was one of the games I played when I was little, so the hometown in the game always meant a lot to me.  I like how you grow up there and how your tragic backstory is there--and then how you get to return to the town years later after you’ve come into your own, and you can see it completely rebuilt.  I like to spend a lot of my time in this town, just wandering around it and playing the minigames.  Even though I have a house in every town, Oakvale is where my hero calls home.

Most Hated Character:  Merril from Dragon Age 2 - I don’t really want to lay into how I feel about Merril, but what I will say is that it was suggested to me that I totally ignore her when playing, and I did so.  I only met her for her quest, dropped her off in town, and literally never spoke to her or interacted for the rest of the game.  I had a much better experience for it, honestly.  She appeared after I made my choice in the end of the game, which felt weird since I hadn’t spoken to her in several ingame years, but other than that, the game was totally fine without her.  I sort of just wish you could kill characters in DA2 the way you can in DAO, then I’d just do that, tbh.  It doesn’t suit very many (or any) of the characters I rp in DA2 to keep her around or support her in any way.

First Game I Played: Mixed up Mother Goose Deluxe - I’m not actually sure if this is the FIRST game I’ve ever played or not, but it’s one of the first I played alone as a kid.  I really loved it--this is probably what created my love for point and click adventures, and the game was very silly and fun.

Favorite Company: Bioware - I’ve always been a sucker for Bioware games, ever since Knights of the Old Republic 1 was my favorite childhood game.  I love how they do stories and party members, and while I’m not a fan of all of their games, I really love what they’ve made and their style of storytelling and character driven plot.  Even though sometimes their stories get cliche, I think the suit video games well and most of my early gaming was within their games.

Hated Company: EA - Bioware truly only started to go to shit after the EA acquisition, so I fucking hate EA.   I know Bioware had issues before EA too, but I definitely don’t think EA has helped the situation whatsoever.

Depressing Game: The Beginner’s Guide - I relate to this game as a creator and a writer, and it affects me deeply because of the story it tells and the questions it raises.  It makes me reflect on how I think of myself as a creator, and it reminds me of friendships I used to have.

Creepy Game:  The Path - God, I love this game.  It’s just aimlessly wandering around and finding symbolic scenery and watching your current character comment on it.  Then, you go off to find your girl’s wolf, and each one is different and unique to her, and you watch it ‘kill’ her--and facing her wolf is the only way each girl can truly mature.  Whenever you get to grandmother’s house, the camera switches to first person, and your eyes keep closing, so you can only see while clicking to move.  It forces you to keep moving so that you can see, but since you are moving, you only get to see things somewhat vaguely.  It’s got a great atmosphere, and I love the symbolic storytelling.

Happy Game: Eastshade - This game is so sweet.  There’s some drama around to with many of the quests, but I like this as an rpg without combat, and I think this would be a really good kids game.  There’s a lot to see and explore, and the game was made to be really pretty so that you want to paint several aspects of it.  It’s really lovely to just wander around in this game and bike around the area, painting anything that suits your fancy.  As long as you don’t finish the main quest, you’re free to wander, and materials do respawn, so you essentially can infinitely paint once you get far enough.

Favorite Ending: Virtue’s Last Reward - I love the questions this game asks and where the ending goes.  It thematically ties together--the whole reason the game itself exists is to get the attention of a ‘higher being’--the player, essentially.  I love how it plays with that concept, and even though the final game in the series doesn’t entirely pick this idea up where this game left it, standalone this game is stunning in how it comes together.

[honestgrins]

Resonant || Klaroline

Inspired by the world of Onward, where technology edged magic out of daily existence because all creatures learned to adapt to a new life. Caroline might have taken the DNA test, but she doesn’t take her magical origins nearly as seriously as some people. Klaus, however, takes his birthright and the power it lends very, very seriously - but why would he kidnap an elf?

.

"I don't know what you want from me," Caroline snarled, her wrists raw from fighting her bonds. "But I do know this is not the way to go about it." The chair was cold through the thin silk of her dress, an excellent dress her date so didn't deserve. "Seriously, let me go, Nik. This isn't funny."

He pulled another chair from the edge of the cell where she awoke, tied up and confused. Twirling it before her, he straddled the seat to rest his arms on the back as he watched her with a gleeful smile. "Perhaps, now is the time to tell you my name isn't Nik. Not technically."

The laugh she let out was harsh. "Surprise, the guy who drugged me during dinner isn't who he said he was. I don't give a fuck, let me go."

"No, I think I'll keep you," he answered, amusement all too clear in his voice. "That is, unless you can free yourself. Then, I'm willing to negotiate terms."

She gave another jerk against her ties, but the metal cord obviously held. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

Smirking, Not Technically Nik traced his bottom lip with his thumb. "I trust you'll figure it out. Until then, let me introduce myself. Niklaus Mikaelson, at your service."

"Really crappy service," she spat, only quailing when her brain caught up with the bomb he just dropped. Horror dawned on her slowly as she saw him watching her with great interest. Not only had she been kidnapped - she'd been kidnapped by the Original Hybrid out to set a new world order. 

Magic had always been an accepted part of the world. Gnomes, elves, wizards, and so much more, everyone had their origins and lived as they chose. Specialized knowledge was shared through the generations, lovingly passed down to children and nurtured the necessary skills as they grew. Little ones were taught all the lore for such a world of wonder.

And then, the advancement of technology caught up. Wings were traded for sensible, mid-size sedans, and sorcery gave way to invention. The world became connected in a way it never was before, and all creatures adapted to new common goals until magic eased itself out of existence. Lore was still taught, mostly, though some stories had been forgotten, lost to time as populations mingled. The knowledge was generalized, until schools only taught the big points, nuance and details only so important as they appeared on standardized tests.

So, magic existed - at one point. The last vestiges only remained among those who trained in the skills their ancestors once held as a sacred practice. All creatures could be dangerous if they chose to be, and most people had a wide range of lineages to choose from in their quest for some ancient power. Bonnie had bought Caroline one of those DNA tests the year before; she presented and lived as an elf her whole life, it was kind of a kick to learn she was three percent centaur. "Maybe that's why I had a horse phase growing up," she had joked.

But Klaus Mikaelson was staring at her with greed, and she didn't think it had to do with a penchant for pony tails and killer legs.

The news was always talking about the underground revolution inspired by the Original Hybrid. Rumor had it he was cursed by a witch, his werewolf genes bound and useless. He was left to fend for himself when a rogue vampire attacked him. They were drawn to the healing arts, their need for fresh blood often a handy currency for those with terrible or no insurance. But when they were hungry, it could get ugly. For Klaus, though, the turn was particularly traumatic. Finding the witch who cursed him, he killed her to release his werewolf side, which allowed him to become something entirely new and untested in the world.

That last half was confirmed, Klaus himself having spread the story far and wide as his many surrogates tried to recruit new blood to his cause - to return to the natural state of magic until the world respected all species for the danger they posed. Caroline thought it was a resistance-flavored attempt at elitist elimination of diverse families, and she usually turned the TV off whenever some outlet dared to grant the monster some legitimacy and a chance to reach new ears. If she'd waited a bit longer, she might have recognized his face when he showed up on her dating app.

She'd been so excited for this date. He was charming and funny, a little acerbic, but she liked that mixed into her banter. He seemed like the perfect guy for her, passionate about his art. If only she'd known he was passionate about magical dominion over the entire world, then she might have tempered her expectations.

As he watched her every expression, though, she wondered why he went to such trouble. There was no need to sit through an entire dinner with her, to flirt with her and make her feel seen. It had been going really well, yet he had to have slipped her something for her to wake up in an actual dungeon. Who had a dungeon? 

Biting her lip, there were too many other things that didn't make sense. From what she had gleaned over the years his little movement had been actively acknowledged, Klaus went after powerful species. Giants, trolls, wizards he could win over to his way of thinking. She was an elf, with some siren, nymph, and a negligible bit of centaur in her line.

"What the fuck do you want with me?"

His head tilted to the side, that insufferable smirk only widening the longer it took him to answer. Her irritation grew until she tried to shake the metal ties again, and he narrowed his eyes with something like pity. "You truly don't know, do you?"

Caroline didn't want to give him the satisfaction of asking, but it wasn't like she was getting out of this nonsense by herself. "I know you're nuts and I'm filing a restraining order once I get out of here."

"Have you never wondered what magic might be bubbling under your skin," he question softly, his eyes lingering over the red welts on her wrists, "just begging to be released?"

"I took a DNA test," she bit back with a sharp grin, "turns out I'm a hundred percent that bitch who wants nothing to do with you or your little power trip. You don't want me, and I sure as hell don't want you."

Klaus propped his chin on his hand, chuckling. "I thought dinner was going pretty well, actually."

"You made a good impression," she admitted. "I'm a fast learner, though. Besides, don't you recruit big strong fighters to serve as cannon fodder for your worst ideas?"

With a casual shrug, he seemed annoying unperturbed by her accusations. "We all have our strengths. I'm most interested in discovering yours, however." His voice lowered, almost seductive as he leaned toward her. "Escape your bindings, sweetheart. I know you can."

She refused to ask how, not that she particularly wanted to pass his twisted test. But, she did want to escape. "I've never shown an aptitude for magic, ever. My best friend is a witch, and she would have noticed."

"No one noticed." He was watching her steadily, pleased she appeared to play along. "I wouldn't have if I hadn't gotten ahold of your results from the ancestry testing database."

"Stalker!"

His lips curled upward. "Not just yours, mind, I have a talented mole on staff there to keep me abreast of any...abnormalities in gene reports."

Blinking, Caroline tried to remember what that stupid app had told her. "Th-there was an eight percent unknown strain," she recalled. "But that's normal. 'Within the accepted range for interpretation,' is what I think it said. Too many species and generations to clearly delineate."

"I don't care for percentages," Klaus said. "Percentages mean nothing. It's about what resonates throughout your very being, whether it be the lion's share or a single thread. According to your genetic code, you have a very, very rare thread that I think resonates within you. And I think you can call it forth to escape those bindings."

Her heart was pounding. "What are you talking about?"

He stood, moving toward her to gently lift the pendant from the hollow of her neck. "This is very pretty, just like you," he flirted. "Have you never wondered why you favor gold jewelry?"

"It suits my coloring. What does my personal style have to do with anything?"

"Or why you can't help but soak in the sun at every chance you get? Your profile pictures are all outside, often lounging next to a pool."

"Hi, it's an excuse to post a bikini pic!"

Klaus smiled knowingly. "You tend to latch onto your friends, loathe to share them with others. Bonnie, was it? The friend who called halfway through our dinner? You're awfully possessive of her, aren't you?"

Anger welled within her, a boiling rage she'd never quite felt before and had no idea what to do with.

Of course, he just kept smiling. "It'd be a shame if something were to happen to this Bonnie, should you not be able to escape."

Her hands balled into tight fists and her breathing grew heavy. "Don't threaten my friends."

"Your friends," he asked, taking a tighter hold of her necklace as his fangs finally slid out to show just how dangerous he was, "or your hoard?" Then, he ripped her necklace off.

And all hell broke loose.

[thewebcomicsreview]

What’s that? I’m talking about Homestuck too much lately? Well, too bad, it updated and I’m-a livebloggin’ it. This chapter contains a content warning for child abuse and I’m thus putting the rest of this post below a Read More, though I’m live blogging and don’t know what the child abuse content actually is. 

Looks like we’re with Jane, so this might be the chapter with Yiffy in it! But probably not, because they’re gonna drag it out. Incidentally, since the rebellion consists of two max-level characters, four god tiers (John, Jake, Rose, and Jade), and now Vriska who is the 8est fighter 8y far, how does Jane even stand a chance? Good thing for her that she pre-emptively took a hostage! 

JANE: (I've always been pretty good at crying on cue.) JANE: (Could I try staging an emotional breakdown?) JANE: (That could work; playing to people's humanity.) JANE: (Or whatever is the more inclusive term.)

I do like that Jane, a genocidal human-supremacist dictator, is worried about being “inclusive” in her propaganda. I wonder if she’s starting to drift from Trumphitler into Nancy Pelosi, now. Also interesting: She’s apparently using Gamzee’s death for propaganda value, cool and all, but her superpower is literally raising the dead. I can buy that Jane would rather use her ex-boyfriend for propaganda than revive him, but won’t the people of Earth C have questions? 

DIRK: Dude, the bowl. JAKE: Hm? JAKE: Oh, right. JANE: What is it now, Jake. JAKE: I brought something for our guest as well. JANE: You mean the prisoner. JAKE: Y...es.

I realize that Yiffygate made the patreon rocket to the stratosphere, but I hope we’re not actually getting to see her so soon. It’s more fun to speculate. For instance, she’s apparently getting meals in a dog bowl. Is that because she’s literally half dog, moreso than Jade, and is feral in some way? That’s been hinted at a little, but it’s also possible Jane’s just tormenting her to be a bitch. As we saw when she was Crockerfied in Act 6, Jane’s got a bit of a sadistic streak in her.

Well, that was answered pretty fucking fast! Okay, let’s not click next just yet. If we’re only getting one panel to speculate, let’s milk it like a dying webcomic franchise: Preppy bording school outfit, but with cleats, so she’s apparently an athlete. Lots of pink highlights on her outfit (shoes/socks/tie). She’s got a black dog tail, but appears to have light hair? I like this design, actually, or what little of it we’re seeing. I was half-expecting Yiffy to be a full-on Deviantart parody, but I think the angle we’re going here is “a mostly normal girl, besides being part dog, who’s just been absolutely shit on by life and every adult she’s ever encountered”. It’s not her fault her name is Yiffany, y’know? She didn’t ask for this. 

Let’s see how right I am.

JANE: Well, go on then. JANE: She's over in the corner. JANE: Don't worry, she won't bite. JANE: I've seen to that already.

The fact that this chapter had a content warning for child abuse makes this read a lot more “Yikes” than it might’ve otherwise.

DIRK: Jake. DIRK: You put the food in a fucking dog bowl. JAKE: (It was all there was, ok???)

I feel like this is actually worse than if Jane put the food in a dog bowl to torment Yiffy.

I told you we’d fall in love with her. I told you dog.

....I don’t know if the MSPA art style lends itself to slightly raised camera angles like this, it looks like Yiffy’s face is 50% forehead. 

*Lore hat on*

Okay, first off, dick move electrocuting a child. That out of the way. Yiffy is communicating in wolf howls (she must be a big fan of Toast, from my webcomic Saffron and Sage!), but she’s also literally being electrocuted so lets cut her some slack. What’s more interesting is that her Awoos are in red. 

Vrissy shares a font color with Vriska, who she’s trying to emulate. They even use the same CSS class in the site code. Tavros shares his with Gamzee, his abusive uncle (and doesn’t have the same CSS class). Harry Anderson has a unique font color that’s pretty close to his dad’s, but isn’t quite the same (possible to make Harry/John chats more readable, whereas Vriska and Vrissy being hard to distinguish is the joke?). Yiffy, however, does not speak in either Jade’s green or Rose’s purple, she speaks in red. It’s a unique shade of red, I checked, and while it could potentially be in reference to Dave, let’s get real

Obviously, she’s the new Handmaid. This was obvious enough that I was making that comparison even before we learned her red text and rebellious personality. So I’m starting to see what they’re going for here (and, god help me, I’m starting to come around to Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde Harley as a concept). She’s not a one-dimensional joke of a character, she’s just a normal girl having a fucking rough time of it right now and also always. Speaking of time, red is connected to the Time aspect, which isn’t confirmation of anything but a little note to put in the back of your pocket.

Also to put in your back pocket, Jane’s the new Condesce and Yiffy’s the new Handmaid. The Condesce killed the Handmaid. 

JANE: You've been a thorn in my side ever since I agreed to enroll you at the academy, little madam. JANE: Back then, I was doing a favor for two old friends who made a disgusting mistake. JANE: I'm no longer going to play nice with you just because of your parents, however. JANE: That truce is over.

That’s some efficient expositing! 

Man, I really am coming around to this Yiffy thing, holy shit. I actually think her reveal last chapter was actively designed to get fans to hate the concept as much as possible, and not just from a Controversy Creates Ca$h kind of way (though that didn’t hurt).The entire fandom has been calling Yiffy a disgusting mistake for three weeks, and now here’s Jane doing it, and we’re being asked to consider this from Yiffy’s perspective: Given a stupid name as a joke, shunted off to boarding school by parents who were ashamed of her existence, repeatedly told she’s a disgusting mistake and tortured, even the fans all hate her on sight, and she literally hasn’t said a word yet! That’s....legitimately pretty cool writing, right there. A deft and entirely intentional juking of the fandom’s emotional state to get us to hate a character conceptually so that now when the comic’s trying to get us to sympathize with her it’s an easier sell because we feel a bit guilty. I dig it. Shit like this is why I still read Homestuck, it can be very clever at times, even now.

(Pierced ears, in case the punky aesthetic wasn’t obvious). Also, the page with a gif of everything going dark as Yiffy passes out has a black background, which is a nice touch.

TG: but seriously, do you? AG: Not really. TG: not even about... you know? TG: her? AG: No. TG: ... are you sure? AG: A8solutely. AG: What are you, my moirail? AG: Just leave it, Harry. TG: ok.

Then we cut to a chatlog (with the all-black background, which is just really nice here at selling the mood), and even Vrissy doesn’t want to talk about Yiffany.

AG: It was Cute, 8lright???????? AG: Or, at the very least, a 8*cketload less vomit worthy than everything else that Went Down with our parents.

She’s “vomit-worthy”

I think the update that introduced the Candy Kids was the most enjoyable, but this was, by miles, the best thing to come out of the Homestuck EU. It completely redeemed everything this comic did with Yiffy so far and made it all work. And this black-background-no-image gimmick, while simple, was shockingly effective at conveying the lonely empty mood they were going for (admittedly it probably helped that I was already listening to spooky music), and it’s something Homestuck had never done. This was....

This chapter was great. This was Act 5 great. Like, it’s literally just beating up a child for a whole chapter, but in terms of getting the emotional response they wanted, this is Homestuck at its absolute best. It wasn’t just “here’s a cute girl, let’s beat her up a bit for sympathy”, all the stuff in the last chapter, infuriating the fandom like nothing I’ve seen in webcomics in years, Jade’s dog dick, it was all for this. It was all to get us predisposed to fucking hate Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde Harley so that they could flip the switch and make us love her, make the very fact that we hated her so much part of the reason we love her now. No other webcomic would do that, no other webcomic would have the balls to do that. This is why I read Homestuck, this is why I’m still hanging on to this rock has the wave of cheating dog dicks keeps smacking me in the face. This is avant-fucking-garde, man. I’ve done a full 180 on Homestuck 2. I’m sold. I stan. I’m Homestuck trash again. 

EDIT

Oh, and Vrissy suddenly passed out mid-sentence right around the same time Yiffy passed out (hmmm!), and apparently she’s narcoleptic like Jade (hmmm!)

[aion-rsa]

Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Batman: Soul of the Dragon spoilers.

The latest DC animated film Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a complete reimagining of the Dark Knight. It’s an out-of-continuity story, the kind of tale DC usually places under its Elseworlds banner. Set in the 1970s, Soul of the Dragon places Batman (David Giuntoli) as part of an ensemble of heroes, a collection of the top martial arts masters in the DC universe including Richard Dragon (Mark Dacascos), Lady Shiva (Kelly Hu), Ben Turner a.k.a. Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White), and O-Sensei (James Hong). 

“It’s a weird movie in that you can literally take the voice cast and transpose it into live-action and they can make the same movie,” gushes writer Jeremy Abrams, “They’re all accomplished and good looking. It all works!”

Batman: Soul of the Dragon is a mash-up of Batman and ‘70s Kung Fu films. For this film, the comics character Richard Dragon is reinvented as a thinly disguised homage to Bruce Lee. 

“I pitch a lot of martial art DC comic ideas,” confesses Abrams. “I’ve been pitching Batman meets Enter the Dragon for a while, and evidently, [Executive Producer] Bruce Timm had a similar idea.” Timm said he’d love to do a 1970s Batman martial arts thing, which led him to Abrams. “Bruce wanted to add on a Big Trouble in Little China element, which is like catnip for me. That’s one of my favorite movies. So, it ended up being like four hours just talking about stuff, and what would work, and what would be cool.”

Abrams and Timm have a great love of ’70s cinema. It’s an unusually fruitful period to set a Batman story according to Abrams. 

“One of the great things that they had is all these really distinct genres,” Abrams says. “You had blaxploitation, you had Kung Fu movies, you had James Bond movies. Then you had horror movies that were the satanic panic type cult movies. And our movie is in the center of that and it just all seemed to lend itself to this movie.”

In the 1970s Batman comics strove to distance themselves from Adam West’s campy TV rendition which had become the dominant impression of the character since its wild success from 1966-69. Part of this reinvention involved scaling down Batman’s reliance on gadgets and technology in favor of a more two-fisted, detective style approach. Batman: Soul of the Dragon explores Batman in his formative years, and scales back his resources accordingly. “You’re not going to get the Batcave,” explains Abrams. “You’re going to get the loft above a building, a dance club.” 

There are so many Batman stories already so to stand out, the filmmakers sought to bring Batman to his roots by making this more about Bruce Wayne.

“We’ve tried to humanize Batman,” adds director Sam Liu, “so he’s not in the costume for the majority of the film, and it’s more of a human story.”

There’s always risk when retooling a beloved character. 

“We get to work on big, A-list superheroes,” Liu says. “These are iconic heroes. They’re not just made up from cartoons and stuff like that. It’s a big responsibility sometimes, but if I spend too much time thinking what it means to so many people, I could get intimidated. After a while…you kind of want to try something different. We’ve done so many Batman stories. Sometimes you try something new and it’s interesting to you, because again, it’s different. But then the fans don’t get on board with it because they kind of want them to stay the same.”

Who is the Best Martial Artist in the DC Universe?

Given the formative theme, Batman: Soul of the Dragon illuminates Batman’s training in martial arts. However, this isn’t exactly Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins either. Batman doesn’t study ninjutsu with Ra’s al Ghul. Instead, he trains under O-Sensei alongside the most powerful martial artists of DC. Abrams, a consummate comics and martial arts geek, already had his top three DC Universe martial artists picked out. 

“Well, I know Shiva’s in there. I know Richard Dragon’s in there, and I know that Ben Turner’s in there,” Abrams says. “I definitely think they are the top. I don’t think Batman breaks the top five in terms of DC martial artists. But he’s cool. I just think he supplements martial arts with so many other things.”

Even though Batman has top billing, he’s not the main character. According to Liu, each of the others in the quartet of heroes could carry their own story. 

“We didn’t want any of them to be sidekicks,” Liu says. “We’re so used to these Batman stories where Batman is the guy. It was a very conscious decision in building this, that we made sure that Richard was never a sidekick. If anything, this was a little bit subversively kind of supposed to be more of a Richard story. Batman is just one of the characters. He grew up with these characters, and he’s just part of this ensemble, and each of them have their part in this grander story.”

In the wake of Bruce Lee, Kung Fu oriented characters spread into comics. Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, based on a popular comic series that came out in the 1970s, is a leading example, however DC had their own stable of martial masters. 

“I know and I love the glut of DC martial arts characters of that era,” states Abrams emphatically. “Everybody has their peculiarities in the things they love about fandom. I know a guy that is really obsessed with the background creatures of Star Wars. But one of my obsessions in the DC universe are these really cool well-defined martial arts characters they have.” 

Batman: Soul of the Dragon takes a deep dive into several secondary DC martial artists like Judomaster Rip Jagger (Chris Cox), Edmund Dorrence (Patrick Seitz) and the nefarious Kobra Cult including Jeffery Burr (Josh Keaton), and Lady Eve (Grey Griffin). What is it about cobras and martial arts villains nowadays?  

Enter Richard Dragon

While all of the martial artists in this film have been reinvented to some degree from the comic pages to this animated adaptation, the biggest change is Richard Dragon. In the comics, Dragon was originally Richard Drakunovski, a Caucasian character. In later story arcs, Dragon’s title is usurped by his villainous student, Richard Diaz Jr. In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Dragon is Chinese, a clone of Bruce Lee’s character ‘Lee’ from Enter the Dragon. 

“‘Race swapping’ is not usually where I go first because I’d rather just make a new character,” confesses Abrams. “But we made this an Elseworlds, so there’s a lot to be set up. We can do whatever we want.”

For Liu, bringing a positive Chinese character to the DC animated universe was huge.

“It’s funny because when we started this film, they sort of approached me saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to put you in this sort of ’70s Enter the Dragon meets Batman kind of a story.’ I was like, ‘Oh boy. This could go either way.’” 

Liu remembers laying out the ground rules in an early writer’s room meeting by saying “Look, I’m Chinese. I just want to make sure that you’re going to do this respectfully, because I don’t really want to be a part of something if it’s just sort of…irresponsible.”

Liu was reassured to learn that respectful representation was at the forefront of everyone’s mind from the very beginning and that sold him on the project. 

“I’m an older guy, so I’ve experienced racism and all that kind of stuff, because I grew up in the South when I was very, very young,” Liu says. “It’s horrible. I’ve always liked to get more representation.” 

For Liu, Batman: Soul of the Dragon is another step towards increased acceptance of diversity. As an Asian American, he has experienced xenophobia all his life. 

“As volatile as it is nowadays, it’s much better,” Liu says. “I remember my dad being an Asian man in the South, and some of the stuff we had to go through. I come from an era where you’re oppressed, so you’re just expected to be that way. Any little movement forward is a big step. For me, personally, I think it’s great.”

As the world’s first global Asian celebrity, Lee was a pioneer before long before diversity became an issue of debate. He lived by example, all the while infusing his philosophy into his constant battle against racism.

“It’s like a theme that’s in Enter The Dragon, the art of fighting without fighting.” In Batman: Soul of the Dragon, there’s even an homage to the scene in Enter The Dragon where Lee drops that line on Parsons (Peter Archer) and tricks him out of a fight. 

For Abrams, shifting Richard Dragon to Asian was true to the roots of the character. Dragon first appeared in a paperback novel written by Denny O’Neil under a pseudonym. According to Abrams, “On that cover, it looks like Richard Dragon is an Asian man. And for Bruce [Timm], that’s how he always saw him.” Abrams feels that bringing Dragon back to how he was depicted on that original cover was the way to go. “I think it adds a great diversity and it pulls away from, ‘Oh, here’s another white guy with Batman.’ It makes this really cool ensemble, even more definitively different.”

The Launch of a New Franchise?

The finale of Batman: Soul of the Dragon leaves the door wide open for a sequel. Batman, Dragon, Shiva, and Turner enter another hellish dimension, and what lies ahead is anyone’s guess.

“The ending is actually one of the first things that we came up with,” reveals Abrams. “We looked at each other and thought, ‘This is crazy. But, what if this happens?’ We’re looking around at each other, like, ‘Somebody’s going to stop us, right?’ It’s like, ‘Nope. We’re going to do it.’ The ending fits perfectly with the dream of Batman, which is, ‘I get to fight evil, forever.’”

So will there be a Batman: Return of the Dragon? 

“Bruce Timm had talked about potentially doing more if this does really well,” adds Liu. “I think he’s in talks with some other creators and stuff like that, because he’s such a fan of the ’70s that I think that he would love to be able to continue doing more stories, especially in this genre. This story is really, really personal as far as just all the things that he loves. I think both him and Jeremy are in love with this era and this genre.”

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Batman: Soul of the Dragon is available now on Digital and Blu-ray.

The post Batman: Soul of the Dragon – Bringing a Little Bruce Lee to Bruce Wayne’s World appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[scrawnydutchman]

Why ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s Animation is So Amazing

So those followers of my blog may know that I posted a full film review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rather recently. You’re welcome to go check it out if you haven’t yet, but the short version of it is that it’s my favorite movie of 2018 and is, in my opinion, the best comic book film ever made. But I wanted to address something about the film that I keep seeing coming up. I’ve been watching a handful of reviews for the film online and in a great deal of them I hear people bring up how they were skeptical of the animation style when they first saw the trailers because it “looked choppy”. One film critic in particular by the name of Roger Moore actually still held that critique against the film even after seeing it when he posted his review of it. Most people have come around to enjoying the films animation and have put the idea of it being choppy at the backs of their heads. But what did they mean initially?  The problem with a lot of film critics when it comes to judging an animated feature is that sadly they can come from a misinformed place about the medium and create this negative stigma around a film that isn’t justified. Animation is already fighting a number of prejudices (people saying it’s only for kids, saying it’s a genre and not a medium and any other amount of reasons why they may think they are above it) so this added one does not help what is easily the most spectacular animated film of 2018. But I myself am an animator, so I feel I can come from a place of explaining the visuals in a way that may make the still skeptical viewers more appreciative of what the film is trying to accomplish. With that in mind, here’s why the films animation works so well.

Animating on 2s, not on 1s

When it comes to animation, whether it be 2D or 3D, audiences are typically used to a consistent and fluid motion where there is virtually no break in the motion of a character or object. Simply put; it’s as fluid as fluid animation can be. In these cases, this is because the animation was done on “1s”. But what does that mean?

With a few exceptions, it’s a universal rule that animation runs at 24 frames per second. That means every second of footage you see of an animated film can have as many as 24 unique drawings or adjusted poses in them. That’s a lot of work, but animation legends like Richard Williams (director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) are famous for having classical animation of this stature. However, just because you CAN fill each second with that many drawings doesn’t mean everybody does. Alternatively you could have 12 drawings in each frame and just double the amount of time you see them go by. When you do this, it’s called animating on “2s”. It’s half the work for a result that may not be quite as fluid as animating on 1s but still looks convincing enough to deceive the human eye. You could even go as far as animating on 3s and animating on 4s, but the higher you go the more you increase the risk of your animation looking “choppy”. Spider-Verse in particular has most of their frames on 2s, with a few exceptions being when the characters have to keep up with complex camera work and so they go back to 1s. So that would explain why a lot of people initially thought the animation was “choppy” . . . .but are there any advantages to doing animation this way aside from having less frames to fill? Indeed there is. When you increase the exposure of any frame, the layout and composition of said frame as well as any small details has a greater chance of sticking out in the viewers mind. Spider-Verse takes exceptional advantage of this fact because every little action in this film is like a beautiful work of pop art. There can be other ways you can inject great appeal in your animation besides making it “fluid” like making every drawing crisp and full of detail and if you’re a skilled enough animator you can make your animation deceive the eye through a number of other tricks which we will go into in a bit. I can’t think of a finer example of this point than Legendary indie animator Bill Plympton.

Bill Plympton is famous for having his drawing exposures in the 3s and 4s, having every drawing have vivid detail with complex shading and sketchy lines, but he still manages to create believably moving and behaving characters and set pieces in spite of this limitation.

So how is it done? How does an animator make convincing and appealing movement with a decisively limited amount of drawings? Let’s start with good posing.

Posing

I’m of the opinion that Spider-Man lends himself to good animation more than any other superhero. Because of all superheroes, nobody has as many interesting poses, weight shifting and as much natural progression between actions as the web slinger. His main mode of transportation is swinging around, using his weight distribution and kicks and lunges to propel himself in any direction he wants and as he tries to make a turn he has to push himself into another direction, fighting the force that pushed him the other way to begin with. Contrast this with Superman who can just fly right over to where he needs to be without much movement of his arms and legs and without much struggle with incoming obstacles (fun fact, the whole reason Superman can even fly in the first place is because it’s easier to animate than have him leap everywhere). But anyway, back to Spidey. In most animation you develop key poses. Key poses are the main storytelling positions a character may have just to communicate the idea that they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing. So for example if you were to animate a jump, you would start by drawing the position of your character bending their legs to launch themselves up, then you would have them in mid air, then you would have them land again.

Once you create poses that tell the story well enough, you would fill in the rest between. But the key poses are VERY important to get right. To make sure there couldn’t possibly be any confusion as to what the characters are doing or even who they are, animators often ask themselves “would I know what’s happening here even if I put it in silhouette”? To add to the fluidity of the animation in a way that doesn’t compromise the chosen amount of frame exposure, poses also tend to follow a “line of action”. Basically the whole body follows the direction of a drawn line and maintains it’s course in order to really sell the action. It helps for exaggeration and for developing after aspects like arcs.

Now as I said before, Spider-Man is a particularly advantageous character when it comes to this stuff. Because he’s acrobatic. He’s shifts his weight a lot. His most iconic poses as a character lend themselves greatly to silhouette. Also, he happens to be very easy to draw. Even if all you did was draw a red stickman with spider eyes we could instantly tell who it is.

The animators for Spider-Verse knew exactly what kind of beast they were dealing with and MAN OH MAN did they have fun with it. Not only did they perfectly capture the way the classic Spidey moves, but they also gave every different Spider-Person their own take on it. Spider-Gwen moves with the grace and elegance of a ballet dancer, Noir Spidey has a less ambitious and more straight forward way of moving around (kind of “old school) if you will. Then of course you have Peni Parker recreating the anime aesthetic and Spider-Ham with all the elasticity of a cartoon.

*here’s a little Spidey animation I did a while ago.

Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Overlapping Action, Follow Through

If anybody takes an animation class or tries to learn animation on their own, chances are Squash and Stretch will be the first animation principle listed. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Animators will often contort the model of their character to give whatever is happening more elasticity and to fill the gaps of an arc if drawings are a considerable distance away from each other. It helps the human eye track where an object is going and it can also help with principles like anticipation and follow through. Anticipation is the build up to an action. Think bending your knees before you lunge yourself upward for a jump. Because that momentum has to come from somewhere. Then there’s overlapping action, which is when dragging items on a character’s design such as clothes, capes, long ears, tails or what have you, are trailing along and need to catch up to the rest of the body. Spider-Verse does great with both these principles, especially with Spider-Ham and Noir Spidey. Spider-Ham is obviously influenced by Looney Tunes and other cartoony inspirations so he’ll be prone to doing a lot of squishing and stretching, where as Noir Spidey has the long trenchcoat and hat and you can bet that they’ll always be the last part of him to reach his destination (as well as be the most susceptible to wind). And of course, every character in Spider-Verse has great anticipation  . . . as well as what I think of as anticipation’s opposite, follow through. When an action stops, the body needs a moment to adjust itself into the resting position. Think catching yourself with your legs after a jump, crouching down and then standing back up again. Just like how momentum has to come from somewhere, it has to go somewhere when the action is over.

Appeal

So everything I covered thus far is stuff that’s universal across all forms of animation. But What does Spider-Verse do that makes it special? What separates it from other animated films in the theater? The answer is appeal. Appeal is just having a style and aesthetic that’s pleasing to look at . . . and man does Spider-Verse ever cover that. The film goes so far out of it’s way to look like a comic book that every texture has ben-day-dots so it literally looks like a comic print. Every Spider-Person has their own way of moving, their own way of behaving, their own sets of priorities when it comes to the 12 principles of animation. But the film also has a lot of really clever cheats. One of my favorite examples of this is how the film cheats forced perspective. There are many shots in the film where Miles is falling through the city as the buildings rush past him. The animators actually skewed the models of the buildings for these shots to imitate depth, as when they tried it without the skewing it didn’t looks like they were falling fast enough. They also implemented more classical cheats like smears, basically an animators method of imitating motion blur.

I could go on and on with the animation lecture, but honestly, I covered what I wanted to cover. I just wanted to showcase to anybody who may not be aware that animation is more than just “fluidity” and a seamless framerate and that there’s more ways to create appealing visuals than just that. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see Spider-Verse. It is a masterpiece.

[gumnut-logic]

okay so i have been having bad brain lately and struggling with life but i just took a deep dive into your ao3 to catch up on all your wonderful words and needed to let you know how brilliant you are (again) bc it’s been a while. thank you for writing the dentist. it’s such a beautiful heartbreaking story and you handled the mental health stuff so very tenderly and carefully and the way virgil’s brothers care so much and so differently, my heart just !!!! (1)

i know we’ll be home for christmas wasn’t my secret santa gift but it truly feels like it when you bless us with injured virgil and beautiful scenery and pure unadulterated fluff. what a beautiful world you have created. sotto voce is just. phenomenal. there are no words for how much it blows me away every time i reread. the prince who would be king?? i don’t normally read medieval stuff but this???? is everything!!! (2)             

shooting star hurts so much but in the best way, you are TOO GOOD to us. finally. i will stop soon dw, but listen, live, lie, laugh, learn & love??? honestly probably my favourite fic ever. i come back to it often and just weep every time because it’s a masterpiece and virgil is so perfect in it, i am just so in love with your writing style. every time you post i get a happy leap in my chest & i get inspired to write my own so thank you for making me love writing again. you’re the best xoxo (3)        

-o-o-o-

I woke up to these this morning and oh my god, I have just reread this so many times trying to work out how to do justice and answer such lovely words ::hugs you so much::

I really couldn’t have written what I have without this wonderful fandom to keep me going. You, in particular, have always been so encouraging and amazing to me, how can I not keep writing?  I stumble across your comments from time to time while rereading fic and they are just so encouraging ::hugs you madly::

I’m sorry to hear that life is being nasty to you ::offers you a Virgil to hug:: I hope things improve as soon as possible. ::more hugs:: I’m glad my fic helps just a little bit. I know I’ve used fanfic in the past to get through rough patches, so I’m really just returning the favour.

Regarding the fics you mention: (wherein Nutty babbles about behind the scenes of her fics)

The Dentist - My most recent actually started out as supposed to be funny, but I’m never in control of these things. I drew from my own phobic experiences (though not of dentists and certainly not caused like Virgil’s). I grew up in a, shall we say, unsympathetic environment to a sensitive child (I am sensitive to a whole bunch of things - side effect of my artistic abilities, I guess, has it’s up and down sides) and developed at least two phobias that messed with my life. The only thing I ask is if someone says they are scared of something, please respect that and assist them in working with it rather than mocking them. It may seem stupid, but the fear is real and terrifying. And yes, Scott Tracy, I’m looking at you - treat Brains with a little more respect, you arrogant flyboy. Not everyone has the same talents. Thank you so much for your kind words and for reading through what turned out to be a very emotional fic ::hugs you lots::

We’ll Be Home For Christmas - I feel Secret Santa is really a gift to everyone. We all enjoy reading each other’s fics and I’m so glad you are enjoying this one. This one has been magical for me. I have learnt so much researching it and I feel I’ve been on the voyage with the boys. Poor Virg, though, I had to injure him just to get the plot moving. I am so mean to him :D I will finish this fic. It has to be finished. I’m enjoying it far too much for it not to be finished. As to the world, I didn’t create it ::hugs:: The beauty of it is that it actually exists just north of New Zealand. I have watched so many videos of this amazing place, I will have to share when the fic is finished :D

Tales of Sotto Voce - This series will always have a big place in my heart as it impacted on my writing like no fic before it. I learnt so much and enjoyed it so much. I really need to finish The Price because John needs to have the last say in this saga and boy, does he have a lot to say. Thank you so much for rereading it. It is always wonderful to hear that my archived words are still being read ::hugs::

The Prince Who Would Not Be King - I’m a little scared of this one. It could essentially become a novel and it would be a steep learning curve for my writing skills. The amount of work involved is daunting and honestly it is tempting :D But not until I finish Shooting Star, We’ll Be Home For Christmas and The Hero :D It seems I can write things at the drop of a hat, in fifteen minutes, at lunch, before work, early in the writing piece, but each story gets to about the three-quarter mark and then I really have to start thinking hard to make sure I tie up all the loose ends and deliver what the story demands - this can’t be done at odd minutes, so gets relegated to time off work where I can focus, hence the delays. Plus my frickin’ muse often refuses to behave ::glares at it:: I’ll wrangle with it and will win eventually ::glares at it some more::

Shooting Star - I was looking at this one yesterday. I have the conclusion worked out, I’m just trying to segway into it. Muse wouldn’t co-operate so I wrote Together instead. This was supposed to be a simple Virgil-John chat fic. It blew up in my face. The emotions in this one just hurt. But I feel it is a conversation the boys had to have. Scott would not just leave his brother up there with a potentially murderous AI. There has to be a reason why it all worked out...and some how or other I now have to illustrate exactly that ::headdesk:: How do I get myself into these situations? But anyway, some more is written, I just have to make it work properly. Thank you for sticking with me as I stumble through my brain working things out :D

Listen, Live, Lie, Laugh, Learn & Love - I have always loved the 5 + 1 fic format, but had never written one. At this point I wasn’t sure I could finish such a challenging format (yeah, look at my long fics now, but back then I was terrified I didn’t have it in me). I also had no idea where the fic was going until about halfway through, was totally new to the fandom and to Virgil’s character and to this day still worry I bent his character oddly with the choir boy bit. It is true that canon Virgil has never sung on screen (that I’ve been able to discover) so this fic is possible, but I’ve never been entirely confident I pulled it off well. So yeah, lots of doubt hovering around this early piece, so your words mean ever so much to me, particularly about this fic ::hugs you lots::

But most of all, the best thing you’ve said in all this is that you are inspired to write. I couldn’t ask for more. There is never anything more wonderful than knowing I have helped another artist pick up a pen or brush or take that step to push their ideas out into the world. The world is so much better the more art and creativity unleashed upon it. The world is crazy about science and technology, but the truth of the matter is that art and creativity and innovation underpin everything our species has ever achieved. That and art can offer such relief from a crazy world that does not lend itself to the natural rhythms of life.

::grin:: I’m not a coffee drinker like the Virg, but you wanna see Nutty devolve into a similar bearhead to the sans coffee Virgil, just see what happens when I’m denied my creative time. You get fic cos Nutty needs to exercise her creativity everyday. It keeps me healthy. It comes in many forms and media, but at the moment it is writing and TAG and yay, lots of fic :D

Aaaand, I’m babbling. Apparently I like to talk about myself ::ducks head shyly:: Sorry :D

But thank you ever, ever so much for all your support. It means ever so much to me and the only way I can really express it is to write more fic. :D

Which reminds me - I do take prompts, do you have something in particular you would like me to write? I’ve just come up on my 100th TAG fic on Ao3 and I should celebrate. I don’t think I’ve written you a special fic. Would you like to make a request?

::Hugs you ever so madly and sticks marshmallows down your shirt::

Thank you so much for reading and being so kind and putting up with my crazy.

Nutty

(off the edge, learning to fly, ignoring that damned migraine I had this morning and worshipping the almighty paracetamol)

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

Don’t Hug Me, I’m Scared REVIEW:

  Hello there everybody! My name is JoyofCrimeArt and I do review-y type stuff on rare occasion! I've been a fan of online original content ever since I was a kid, ever since I first got into "Homestar Runner" back in 2010 (before that most of my internet time was spent playing flash games online and listing to Phineas and Ferb songs on Youtube.) Me and my brothers fell in love with Homestar Runner, as well as the various spin-off series that came from Homestar like the "Teen Girl Squad" and the "Strong Bad Emails." While I'm sure there where some web series I had seen before then it was Homestar that was the first big one and ever since I have been enamored with online original content. As time went on I became fans of other online web series, like Death Battle, TOME, RWBY, and many many others. There is something I find just magical about online original content. It's completely unfiltered content. Online you can do or create anything you can imagine, have it run for as long as you want it to (assuming you have the money or dedication to keep producing it) without the threat of it "not meeting the right demo" or "not pulling in high enough ratings." If you can imagine it and have the gumption to put in the hard work you create anything you want to. It like the artist equivalent of the American Dream. You can do anything you want, and be as creative as you want to be! Sorry if that came off as a bit long winded and cheesy but that's how I feel about this exciting new medium. And while there are tonnes of web series I would like to talk about in a review at some point, (and hopefully I will get to some of them in the future) for today I want to talk about a web series that brings whole new meaning to the word "creative," Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.   "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" is a British web series created by Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling. Also TomSka was an executive producer for episodes 3-6. Which...actually explains a lot. Basically DHMIS Is a six part miniseries that ran from July 29th, 2011 to June 19th 2016. The series is basically an education series in the style of "Sesame Street" starring three puppets named "Red Guy," Yellow Guy," and "Duck Guy." (And yes those are there official) names as they learn different educational lessons from different "teachers" in each episode. Now if you haven't seen the series yet I highly suggest you check it out before continuing the review because this is the kind of show where the less you know going in the better, plus combined the series is only about a half hour long. However, I feel like I must warn you, this series is not for young children. It is for adults. (Because come on, it something online and it looks wholesome. Of course it's actually fu*ked up.) Don't go into this series unless your in the mood to see some messed up sh*t. So before you advance be aware, SPOILERS!  Anyway, you back? Okay, so for those of you who already know the show or don't care about spoilers, the show is really a dark parody of pre-school televisions that should either be classified in the horror genre, the REALLY dark comedy genre, or BOTH, depending on ones personal point of view. Each episode tends to follow the same basic formula about some teacher showing up and trying to teach our main characters a lesson, but somewhere along the way the message becomes corrupted and usually ends with the puppets being traumatized or killed. Episode Two, for example, is at first about time, but slowly but surly ends up becoming about the impending death or everyone and thing. Episode Three starts talking about love and ends up being about cult indoctrination. It's pretty messed up stuff. But I know what you're thinking, who cares? There are tonnes of stuff that take kiddie things and makes them adult, especially on the internet. What makes DHMIS so special? Personally, I think want makes Don't Hug Me so special is the amount of detail and that was put into it. Even without the shock value the series is still a well made and interesting spectacle to see.  So let's talk about the characters. While this form of simple and short form series doesn't lend itself to any complex characterization the main three puppets still have distinct personalities, even if there not the deepest characters out there. Red Guy is the sarcastic and rational one, and always talks with a deadpan tone to his voice. He is the smartest one of the group and is the fastest to figure out that something wrong is going on. Yellow Guy is naive, childlike, and not very bright. He is the most excepting of all of the puppets. He's my favorite character in the series, because by the end you just feel so bad for him (watch the series if you want to know what I'm talking about, I don't want to spoil to much.) Duck Guy, honestly, is my least favorite of the main three puppets. He seems kinda foppish and a bit more likely to kinda acts as the smart one when Red Guy isn't used for that, but overall I feel he's the weakest of the main three characters and doesn't have as much character development.

(...) (What did you say to me, b!tch?)  And I say character development because, shockingly, all three characters do go through some character development as the series progressive. The characters become more self aware, and eventually start to expect something bad to happen once there weird "teachers" show up, instead of just going with it like they did in the earlier episodes. One of my favorite blink and you miss it style jokes in the series is when Duck Guy freaks out when The Computer mentions being able to tell the time, because he remembers the "lesson" about time he already learned from the clock. It's cool because they are learning form past experiences. Also there's individual arcs for the characters as time goes on like Red Guy learning to be less of a downer and being more creative.  The show starts following a basic formula, with a teacher teaching the puppets a lesson through song, then something messed up happening and the world resets. However what I really admire is that this show plays with that formula, starting with episode four onward. The shows starts to lose it's status quo and, as mentioned above, the characters start to become more self aware. The episodes start having frickin' continuity! For real! It's really unexpected and, in my opinion, was a really good idea. The audience where starting to see the formula, and after the first episode where just waiting for the episodes to become messed up. So they decided to create a story to draw the audience in. If they just keep doing messed up things over and over again the show would become boring but the twist of actually telling a story, couple with the brevity of the story, managed to keep the story interesting the whole way through.  The story is...weird. It's very much up for interpretation and cryptic. Sort of in the "Five Nights at Freddies" kind of way. Hints and Easter eggs are hidden in the various episodes and there are tonnes of theory videos online about what it all "really means." So if that's your kind of thing then you'll love this series. there are so many weird hints and recurring motifs that I haven't seen a single theory that covers everything. The final episode feels like the story is solved but heck if I know what the story even was about. I think the point of DHMIS isn't about actually solving the mystery but rather making up your own conclusion. I don't think there is a one hundred percent "definitive" answer, partially because of the theme of "creativity" that is in the series a lot and partially because Becky Sloan in an interview said in regard to fan theories that "they are all correct." and I love it when creators say that. They leave things up to the audience to decide what to take away form the series, instead of telling them.  Don't Hug Me I'm Scared's attention to detail goes beyond the recurring motifs and Easter eggs though. What I really appreciate about the series is the attention to detail when it comes to the parody aspect of the show. Now this is a subjective thing, but I've always felt that the best parodies are the ones that either respect the thing that they are parodying. If you like the thing that your parodying it will give you a better understanding of it and make it easier to parody, cause you know exactly why the thing works and is good. It is possible to parody something you hate if you really get what your parodying, but it may end up coming off as sounding bitter. (Not always mind you, but sometimes.) It is clear that there was respect and love for educational programming like Sesame Street, and thus the parody ends up working a lot better. The high production value also helps the parody aspect. The puppets in DHMIS look really good! They look like they could be legitimate puppets in a real children's educational television program. This ends up making the twist that it's actually a horror story even better because the audience doesn't know what to expect if there going into the series blind. They might stumble upon the video and think it's a clip from some real British television series. The series wouldn't be able to work the way it does now if the puppets looked creepy from the start, there would be no contrast. To be honest the puppets in this show look less creepy than some real children's educational puppet shows.

(That top pic is from 80's direct to VHS education series "Peppermint Park" by the way, and also sorry if I accidentally gave you any nightmares.)  Speaking of which, the production values of this whole show is frickin' incredible! Admittedly the production values for the first two episodes aren't as good as later episodes, but starting with episode three the series becomes amazing to look at. Every prop is is made of felt or cloth and the world is heavily decorated down to the smallest detail. The show also incorporates a multitude of different art styles throughout the series. Sure it's ninety percent puppetry but they also incorporate stop motion, flash animation, purposely bad CG graphics, and even some live action film making in certain parts. Every episode features a different song, and most are really catchy (Though the series tends to focus less and less on the songs as time goes on in order to focus more on plot, which is kind of a bummer.) The humor won't be for everybody, it's that sort of dry and surreal humor found in say, and old adult swim show. It's not for everyone but I really like it. It would be so easy to just make this show a kid show that ends up becoming disturbing, but this show does offer other positives so you can still enjoy the series after on re-watch.  If I had to pick a favorite episode out of the six I would probably say episode three. I like the song, moral, and environments the most out of any episode and I feel like the comedy in that episode is the best of the whole series. Episode three also acts like a nice breather episode as it's one of the least terrifying one. My least favorite episode would probably be episode five. The song isn't that catchy in my opinion and it keeps getting interrupted by the plot, which isn't bad for the episodes necessarily but it does hurt the song.) Also I honestly can't tell what the message is. Most other episodes have a message, even if it is a dark and twisted one, like how episode four is about the dangers on the internet, how it just wants information from you, and how easy it is to get sucked inside it. But episodes five's moral, I just don't really see it. I still like the episode but I just find it a bit subpar compared to some of the other episodes. And no disrespect to you if you love episode five or hate episode three, it's just my personal opinion.  So yeah, I highly recommend DHMIS. It's bright, it's disturbing, it's funny, it has incredible production value for a Youtube series, it has great songs, it has chicken picnic's and aspic, what more can anybody want! While it's in no way the perfect series it's a really creative show that I think really pushes the envelope of what a Youtube series can be, because honestly that's probably the most impressive thing about Don't Hug Me. It managed to become popular without feeling the need to conform to what everybody else on Youtube was doing. It is something completely unique. While there may be tonnes of online gamers and film reviewers (And I'm not trying to knock those type of Youtuber's as I am a fan of many people that fall into that category) but there is only one online surrealist, horror, dark comedy, musical, puppet show! And that's Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared. It's not for everybody, but if your a fan of things like "Too Many Cooks" than you'll love this.  So that's my review of Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared (Hopefully it didn't come off as too rambly and fanboy-y). Have you seen the series? If you have, what do you think? Do you have any theories or interpretations on the ending? What's your favorite episode? Tell me in the comments bellow if you'd like to. I'd love to have a civil discussion about it! I'd love to hear what you all have to think, even if you disagree with what I think. Also I'd love to know what you think about my review style, and what I could do to improve upon it in the future. Please fav, follow, and comment and If you liked the review and I will see you all next time! Have a great day! (I do not own any of the images in this review.) .......Okay, I change my mind. This guy is my favorite character.

https://www.deviantart.com/joyofcrimeart/journal/Don-t-Hug-Me-I-m-Scared-REVIEW-629975791 DA Link

[lalka-laski]

1. Do you bite or lick ice cream? Both 

2. What is home to you? Anywhere with my loved ones 

3. What was the last lie you told? Definitely something minor, I just can’t remember it. 

4. Does everyone deserve the truth? That’s a good question. I guess if an individual seeks/demands the truth then they deserve it. 

5. What is the creepiest toy ever made? FUCKING FURBY

6. Describe a moment in which you did something unacceptable in a bad situation. Where do I even begin? 

7. List two things that are more easily done than said. (No, I didn't mix them up.) Getting out of bed in the morning is actually much easier than I make it out to be. Yet I lay there for ages beforehand agonizing and dreading it. The same goes for working out and going to the gym. It’s all the lead-up that’s worse than the activity itself. 

8. When was the last time you worked really hard to achieve something? Several months ago I was doing some intensive therapy and EMDR to detach myself from traumatic memories. 

9. How many all nighters have you pulled? I’ve never counted, but not many. I love sleep too much. 

10. If humans didn't evolve to laugh or smile, how would we express our happiness instead? Hand gestures maybe? Clapping? Jumping up and down? 

11. How many romantic "things" or "flings" have you had? Again, I’ve never counted. I will say I’ve had far more “flings” than actual relationships though. 

12. What is your paradise? Laying in bed next to my honey, a breeze from an open window chills the room but we’re cozy under the comforter. Our favorite candle is lit (Winter White Woods), and we’re silently reading our books, setting them down only to occasionally sneak a kiss. It’s my personal heaven. 

13. What is your favorite background noise? (Ex. Water dripping, people talking.) Certainly NEITHER one of those, as they both drive me crazy. I like consistent white noise from a fan or AC or something.

14. How many hearts do you think you have broken? Beats me. 

15. What is the most important thing about electronics? What does this say about you? I don’t understand the question 

16. Why do people care about celebrities? Do you care about celebrities? Because they’re wealthier and more attractive than any average person could ever hope to be, and as a society, we prize those qualities. I also think many of us find it to fun to fantasize or live vicariously through beautiful, rich people. And to answer the second part of the question, I do care about celebrities but I try not to conceptualize them and remind myself that they’re still people. 

17. What is the most annoying thing someone can do to you? Walk slowly in front of me in a store/other public place. 

18. Do you overexaggerate? What are the pros and cons of this? I sure do, but I’m working on it. I can be dramatic at times... The pros of this are that situations that worry me are never as bad as I envision them to be. But alternatively, that means things I hype up in my head aren’t as great as I imagine either. 

19. Have you played any instruments before? Which instruments? Well I think every child in American public schools is forced to learn the recorder at some point. After that, I played the clarinet for a few years. Then as a teenager, I took “guitar lessons” with a friend of mine but we never did much guitar playing.... 

20. Do you like taking selfies? Why or why not? I do! I prefer them to any other type of photo because I can control how I look in a selfie. 

21. List 3 things you like about yourself? My friendliness, my empathy, my neatness/organization. 

22. What is the best advice someone has ever given you? I’ve been given lots of great advice over the years. I’m just bad at thinking on the spot... 

23. Do you have what it takes to raise a child? Why or why not? I feel that I do. I have a very strong maternal nature, I love babies/children and I have a lot of experience caring for them. Of course, I know *raising* a child is much different than simply feeding/changing/playing, but I believe much of that is a “learn as you go” type of deal. 

24. How do you cheer yourself up after a bad day? Cleaning helps me relax and feel better about my life. I also love taking hot baths, journaling, reading, vegging out in front of the TV or enjoying a glass of wine or two. 

25. When was the last time you felt awkward? The day I was born and I haven’t stopped since 

26. Are you introverted or extroverted? Or a mixture of both? I’m introverted in the sense that I value quiet and solitude, and I feel most at peace when I’m alone. But I have good social skills and (I think) I’m better at interacting with other people than most self-professed introverts. 

27. What constitutes a good friend? Loyalty, honesty, established trust. Similar interests and sense of humor are important too, IMO. 

28. Would you rather have a lot of friends to hang out with or just one best friend? Just one best friend 

29. In a regular day, what do you not want to hear? Donald Trump, or anything related to him. 

30. What is your dream job? Writer 

31. Is it better to be lazy but smart or hardworking but unintelligent? I like this question! There are success stories from both ends of the spectrum. The optimist in me wants to believe that hard work and grit will take you further than any natural talent will, and in many cases, this is true. However, I also believe in a “work smarter, not harder” approach. Sometimes cutting corners and accomplishing tasks in a more “lazy” way is more innovative. 

32. What is a truth about yourself that others find hard to believe? I’m not an animal person at all. I think because I’m a vegetarian and because I just have a sensitive, compassionate nature, people assume I’m an animal lover. In truth, I’d like most animals to keep their distance from me. 

33. What have you always wondered about the other gender? E v e r y t h i n g. 

34. Which fantasy world would you like to visit the most? Wonderland 

35. Describe the worst friend you have ever befriended. No thank you. Not worth the time. 

36. Imagine that you have switched bodies with someone you don't know. You can't switch back. What do you do? That depends entirely on whose body I get. 

37. If you found the recipe for immortality, would you sell it or would you burn it? Sell it. I’m poor. 

38. What is the most important, applicable class you have ever taken? The most formative class I can remember was 10th grade Advanced English. Prior to that, I was a bookworm and always excelled at reading comprehension in school. But it wasn’t until this class that I learned to deeply and critically analyze texts. To recognize the significance of a single word. To appreciate the power of just one detail of a scene or a story. It was in this class that I realized no element of a text is insignificant.  39. Name the last book you read. Currently reading “The Favorite Daughter” by Patti Callahan Henry 

40. Imagine that you are unable to express emotion. How would this affect your world? I’m an exceptionally emotional person so everything about my life would change. Everything!

41. When was the last time you made the first move? Almost never. It’s just not my style. 

42. What is your opinion on electronic music such as dubstep or trap? It’s not my taste 

43. What was the last movie you watched? I truly can’t remember 

44. Do you like and appreciate your life? I do! 

45. Do you like and appreciate yourself? Again, I do! 

46. When was the last time you cried? Couple days ago 

47. What are you scared of? Almost everything 

48. What is the most embarrassing, cringe-worthy thing you have ever done? I’m not going there... 

49. What are some of your hobbies? Reading, writing, crafting 

50. What is a superficial yet annoying mistake you constantly make? I mess up pronouns in conversation a lot. If I’m talking about 2 or more people, I might mistakenly interchange their pronouns. 

51. Are you a good friend? What makes you a good friend? If not, what makes you a bad friend? I like to think so. Sometimes I’m maybe more distant than I should be and I’m usually not the person to arrange plans. But still, I’m reliable and loyal and I’m always available to lend an ear. 

52. Do you honestly learn from your mistakes? NOPE ha ha ha. 

53. What have you learned the hard way? Most lessons

54. What is the most important thing to have in order to attain happiness? Love. Whether it’s from family, friends or a SO. I need to know I’m loved, appreciated and supported. 

55. Which medium do you use for expressing your artistic emotions? (Singing, writing, etc.) I’m a writer, so the written word is my preferred and most used medium. But I like to dabble in other art forms too: painting, drawing, crafts. And I sing A LOT, which could arguable be a form of emotional expression. 

56. Are you a creative or a logical thinker? Creative 

57. What is the smartest thing you have ever done? Enroll in therapy 

58. What is your ideal meal? Mexican or Mediterranean 

59. What is the worst thing someone could do on a date? Tell me he voted for Trump or really anything of that nature. 

60. Do you like animals? Which kind is your favorite? A very select few. I love rabbits, deer, goats, cats. That might be it... 

61. If you could turn one legal thing illegal, what would it be? Those hidden fees when buying concert tickets online 

62. Do you have any guilty pleasures? Fast food. Really any kind of cheap, junk food that’s void of any nutritional value but tastes so fucking good I can’t resist. 

63. What is the best thing that the internet has ever created? Road work ahead? Uh yeah, I sure hope it does. 

64. Do you like playing video games? Which video games? No, I was never into them. 

65. What is your opinion on beauty in today's society? I’m very happy to see beauty ideals (slowly) expanding to be more inclusive. But we still have a long ways to go

66. Are you a morning person? When do you usually wake up? Well 3/5 days of my work week require me to be up at 5:30 am. I usually cry and cringe when my alarm goes off, and sometimes continue to cry and cringe through my entire morning routine. But I often feel better once I get to work, and I like the idea of having the whole day ahead of me. Sometimes it’s nice being awake before most of the world. 

67. Do you have a favorite Disney movie? Character? Anyone who knows me knows I’m all about Sleeping Beauty/Princess Aurora. I actually love all Princess movies. Oh, and Toy Story. I live for Toy Story. 

68. Would you rather live in the city or in the countryside? The city, I like the convenience of walking anywhere I need to go and/or using public transport. As a non-driver, it’s pretty crucial for me. 

69. Would you rather live near the ocean or in the mountains? The ocean, I suppose. Though neither of those options really speak to me. 

70. What are the best things about winter? COZINESS. I’m talking fireplaces, fuzzy slippers, cozy jammies, lots and lots of blankets! 

71. What scares you most about the future? The uncertainty of it. 

72. What makes you feel old? Modern slang. I have no idea what “kids these days” are saying, and I feel like such a loser when I try to use trendy lingo in conversation. 

73. How many hours do you spend on the computer or phone on average? Majority of my day 

74. What are some of your New Year's resolutions? I don’t make them 

75. What is your life story in 6 words? Making it up as I go. 

76. Describe yourself in one word. Emotional 

77. What bad habits do you do? Worrying, over-thinking, obsessing 

78. What genre of music do you listen to? A variety. But most of my favorites could be categorized somewhere in the realm of rock/alternative/pop rock/soft rock. 

79. Most prominent childhood memory? My earliest memory was the birth of my sister, one day before my third birthday. And I would say it’s one of, if not the most, important memory of mine, considering her significance in my life and the bond we share. 

80. Imagine if you had an older brother. If you already have one, what is it like? If you don't, how would this change your life? I only have sisters, so my life would be VASTLY different if I had a brother. I learned a great deal from my older sister, none of which would’ve been possible if she were a boy. 

81. Spirit animal? Deer

82. Do you believe in horoscopes? To an extent. I think they’re entertaining more than anything, and I do believe they can be used as a tool for self-reflection, goal setting, inspiration etc. 

83. What is the worst advice you've ever been given? Hmm... 

84. List the 3 most important people in your life right now. I’m gonna say “my babies:” Hannah, Aubrie and Samantha. 

85. Favorite memory of your family. Oh there are too many to list! It’s never a dull moment when we’re together... 

86. What do you look for in a relationship? Passion 

87. Do you have a role model? Why or why not? Several 

88. What is your opinion on social media? I’m a fan, but I try to limit my usage or at least be mindful of what I’m consuming. 

89. Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Realist? 

90. List some things that you think are overpriced? Medications of all kinds, feminine products or anything marketed specifically to women, vegetarian foods...  

91. What is your worst memory or creepiest experience? I don’t wanna go there 

92. What superpower would ruin the world? Mind-reading would cause a lot of issues I’m sure. 

93. What is something you swore you would never do when you grew up, but you did anyway? I can’t really think of anything 

95. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Poland or Iceland 

96. How do you approach people? That depends on the situation and environment but usually with a “hello” and a smile. 

97. What is your opinion on first impressions? I don’t believe they’re always correct. We all have off days. 

98. What are some things you did as a child that you no longer do? I did a lot more outdoor activities as a kid than I do now.

99. What languages can you speak? English, a little Polish. 

100. What do you think society will be like in 30 years? I’d like to say I can’t imagine it much worse than it is now but I’m not gonna tempt fate 

101. What do you do on your lazy days? Sleep late, stay in bed most of the day, sloth around. 

102. What ended your last relationship? He ended it, although I should have. We had too many differences that made a healthy relationship nearly impossible. And he was emotionally abusive, insulting and manipulative. 

103. Favorite food? Mexican or Mediterranean. I feel like I already answered this, no?

104. What is the most terrifying dream you've ever had? ..... 

105. When was the last time you got seriously angry? I don’t get angry often. I get sad and upset, but not necessarily mad. 

106. What was the last friendship you broke? I can’t recall 

107. Do you have any pet peeves? Several 

108. Who was the last person you gave a hug to? A client this morning 

109. When was the last time you got seriously stressed? I’m easily stressed  so, every day. 

110. What part of your personality do you want to change? My anxiety 

111. Who is the most positively influential person in your life right now? My friends and boyfriend are all equally influential 

112. What is your biggest motivation? Making my family proud

113. What did you want to be when you were little? An author/illustrator 

114. What are some things that you are good at? Writing 

115. What is one thing you want to be good at? Singing. I’m not bad, but I’d like to be *good* 

116. What distracts you the most, especially when you're trying to work? THESE 

117. How important is privacy to you? Quite important. Nothing bothers me more than invasive, prying people. 

118. If you could create one social norm, what would it be? Kindness 

119. What's the craziest lie you've ever told? Uh... probably some ridiculous story I made up while drunk 

120. What story do you like to tell about yourself at parties? I don’t have a “go-to” 

122. What is the stupidest thing you've done to impress someone? Nothing comes to mind 

123. What is your morning routine? It depends on the day. Ideally, I get up and have a nice cup of tea and ease into my day. But more often than not, I hit snooze a hundred times and then end up rushing out the door with my hair unbrushed and my shoes barely on. 

124. What's the last thing you did that is worth remembering? It’s all worth remembering 

125. If karma was coming back to you, would it help or hurt you? Help. I think... 

126. What is your opinion on playing "hard to get?" It’s not my game 

127. What are the pros and cons of straightforward? Honesty is great, but sometimes it can mean hurt feelings. But it’s possible to be truthful while still polite. 

128. What do you consider "leading" someone on? Making plans with no follow-through, flirting with no actual intentions of taking things further (with the knowledge that the other party *would* like that). I don’t know though, I think often men accuse women of “leading them on” when they’re really not. 

129. Are you the friendzoner or the friendzoned? I don’t believe in the friend zone

130. What do you admire most about your friends? Their loyalty to me and refusal to give up on me

131. What do you admire most about your family? See above

132. What is your opinion on "going with the flow?" It’s not my forte 

133. Do you enjoy talking or listening? A healthy combination of both

134. When is it time to end a friendship? When it’s no longer serving you or providing anything positive to your life 

135. What is the worst excuse you've ever come up with? I’d have to think about that

136. If GPA didn't matter, what courses would you have taken? I’m pleased with all the course I took 

137. What are your favorite baby names? Aurora Michelle for a girl. Levi Joseph for a boy. 

138. When was the last time you had a deep conversation with someone? Yesterday 

139. What instantly ruins a conversation? An uninterested participant, someone who only talks but refuses to listen 

140. Biggest turn ons and turn on offs. I feel I’ve already answered this

141. Biggest disappointment. Uh

142. Do you have any self-restraint? Hardly 

143. When did you last do something outside of your comfort zone? Moved into an apartment 

144. Prized possession(s)? My claddagh, a bracelet from Nora, my journal collection, many photographs 

145. What is your opinion on second chances? We all deserve them 

146. Text or call? TEXT TEXT TEXT 

147. What do you like about the 21st century? The internet is pretty great. I couldn’t imagine life without it.

148. What advice would you give to yourself 5 years ago? Focus more on school and less on partying 

149. How organized are you? Quite organized 

150. Favorite mode of transportation. Train

[so-shiny-so-chrome]

Witness: Icarusdusoleil

Creator name (AO3): Icarusdusoleil

Creator name (Tumblr): icarus-doodles

Link to creator works: http://icarus-doodles.tumblr.com/

Q: Why the Mad Max Fandom?

A: I have always enjoyed the Mad Max movies and I fell even deeper in love with the franchise with Fury Road. The characters were fascinating and the world seemed so fleshed out, despite only catching small glimpses of it. It felt very lived-in and real, because of the rich visual storytelling. Wanting more of Max and Furiosa in particular, I dove headfirst into looking at the beautiful art and reading the well thought out fanfiction and meta that the fandom had created. I have never encountered such a passionate, creative, observant, and welcoming fandom as the Mad Max fans. I fell just as much in love with the fandom as I did with the movies. I knew I had to create my own art and writing to express my love and admiration for Mad Max.

Q: What do you think are some defining aspects of your work? Do you have a style? Recurrent themes?

A: I'm definitely the most interested in Max and Furiosa, so my art and writing mainly revolves around them. I like to explore their companionship because they very much seem like soul mates--somewhere between platonic and romantic. I think I often use ravens and creeping vines to represent them symbolically in my work... but that may just be because I had a dream once where Max was a raven.

Q: Which of your works was the most fun to create? The most difficult? Which is your most popular? Most successful? Your favourite overall?

A: I think my favourite work overall is my fanfiction "Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things". I built a playlist of songs that made me think of Max and Furiosa and "A Horse With No Name" by America really stuck with me. The fic became very introspective and someone once likened it to Max acting as a ferryman taking Furiosa to heaven. Writing it was incredibly cathartic and the positive response I got was overwhelmingly wonderful. I also greatly enjoyed sharing my raven!Max dream, because Donda used the idea for the Corvus Cormax fic, which I enjoy so much. It was so cool to see my silly idea turn into such a beautifully written work. I love drawing raven!Max.

Q: How do you like your wasteland? Gritty? Hopeful? Campy? Soft? Why?

A: Truthfully, I think the wasteland is a character in itself, because it is such a tangible and metamorphic force in the movies. So I think I would describe my wasteland as a mix between gritty, hopeful, and spiritual... maybe ethereal. The wasteland is certainly not gentle or kind, but there are moments of quiet and peace that lend to a certain thoughtfulness.

Q: Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished product. What's your prefered environment for creating? How do you get through rough patches?

A: When I draw, my process is very much just stream of consciousness. Sometimes I use references, especially if I'm trying to draw Max and Furiosa realistically, but other times I just draw from my head. I draw both digitally and traditionally. For writing, I am much more meticulous and organized. I prefer to have a story completely planned and outlined from start to finish before I begin. I like using inspiration from history, mythology, and folklore, so I end up doing a lot of research whenever I write. I always listen to music, whether it's soundtracks or my Mad Max inpsired playlist. And whenever I hit a rough patch, I just take a break until I'm feeling ready to work on it again.

Q: What (if any) music do you listen to for help getting those creative juices flowing?

A: I have a whole Mad Max inspired playlist! Some of songs that I associate the strongest with the franchise are "A Horse With No Name" by America, "Cruel Sun" by Rusted Root, and "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. The song that reminds me the most of Max is "Wasteland" by Woodkid. And the one that belongs the most to Furiosa is "Chi Mi Na Morbheanna" by the Rankin Family.

Q: What is your biggest challenge as a creator?

A: Finding time to create for myself has always been tough, because I have a full-time job as an art teacher. I often feel burnt out and don't have the energy to create indulgently.

Q: Which character do you relate to the most, and how does that affect your approach to that character? Is someone else your favourite to portray? How has your understanding of these characters grown through portraying them?

A: Furiosa is by far the character that I relate to the most. I instantly felt connected to her burning determination, her incredible rage, and her open vulnerability. I often wish I had a character like her to look up to when I was a child. Max is the other character that I really enjoy, because I also identify with his disjointed anxiety and desperate need to help. I love writing and drawing both of them, because they don't fit into the conventional action hero and heroine roles, which is really refreshing.

Q: Do you have any favourite relationships to portray? What interests you about them?

A: This comes as no surprise... but Max and Furiosa. I've mentioned before how I view them as soul mates that ride the line between platonic and romantic. They are such complex characters with very weighty pasts behind them, so exploring how they would interact and play off of each other is a lot of fun. I would also like to explore more of Furiosa and Angharad's relationship in the future, but I haven't had the inspiration to do so yet.

Q: Do you prefer to create in one defined chronology or do your works stand alone? Why or why not?

A: Drawing-wise: I'm all over the place. Lots of AUs, lots of canon, lots of "i don't even know but this was fun to draw". I just draw what I want because it's really fun to explore different ideas! Writing-wise: So far everything that I've written can be tied together or they can stand alone. I haven't though much into it.

Q: To break or not to break canon? Why?

A: I break canon so much when I draw, because it's fun to just say "what if Max was turned into a raven" or "what if Furiosa grew out her hair and got a cool new arm".  When I write, I actually stay fairly close to canon. I like using my writing as almost filling in the blanks of the established world. That being said, I really do like to add little twists here and there.

Q: Share some headcanons.

A: I really only have one that I'm super passionate about. I subscribe to the idea that Tom Hardy's Max is the same as Mel Gibson's, because I really enjoy the thought of all movies tying together. My headcanon vacillates between the idea that Max is immortal or that he died years ago, but his spirit still wanders restlessly through the waste.

Q: Who are some works by other creators inside and outside of the fandom that have influenced your work?

A: "Drifter" by @kaasknot was the very first Mad Max fanfiction that I read and I was blown away by their version of Max. It truly stuck with me and was one of the reasons I jumped headfirst into the headcanon of an immortal Max. I also love "He Just Wouldn't Stay Away" by @cygnaut, "The Length and Breadth of Fury Road" by Proprioception, and of course "Corvus Cormax" by Donda ( @thatonezombiecosplayer . I'm also so incredibly inspired by all of the gorgeous art that has been produced in the fandom.

Q: What advice can you give someone who is struggling to make their own works more interesting, compelling, cohesive, etc.? 

A: First and foremost: create for yourself. If you're not enjoying what you create, then find something that you do enjoy and make that instead. Take your time and start small. Your creation doesn't have to be a masterpiece. If you are truly stuck, then take a break or maybe ask someone to take a look at it with you to get some feedback.

Q: Have you visited or do you plan to visit Australia, Wasteland Weekend, or other Mad Max place?

A: I would love to go to Australia!. Not even just for Mad Max, but just because I have always been fascinated with Australia. And I would like to try Wasteland Weekend, because I know a lot of people who go... but I feel like it would be very out of my comfort zone and I would just be an anxious mess the entire time. So I'm not sure!

Q: Tell us about a current WIP or planned project.

A: I'm currently working on a Furiosa-themed punk vest. It's been a slow process, but it's been a lot of fun to work on. I hope to share it soon! And of course I'm going to keep drawing fanart, because it just feels like coming home every single time I visit the wasteland characters. I have also been slowly trying to chip away at an idea for a fanfiction. I've had this idea for a couple years and it includes an older Furiosa, Max as either immortal or a spirit, and disappearing children. I've been calling it "Babes in the Waste". I'm hoping to actually start working on it this year.

Thank you @icarus-doodles

[sweet-star-cookie]

For the ask thing: 15 and 22

HELLO I ALMOST FORGOT TO POST THIS OOPSI’m so sorry I wrote way too much again RIIIIIP

15. An OC that is hard to draw / write / RP

Hmm… that’s an interesting one! Drawing mycharacters consistently isn’t as hard for me as itused to be since I finished art school and gotmy skills up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t havea hard time! As for writing, I find villains moredifficult to write in general, because I’m muchbetter at creating protagonists instead. Theideologies and general demeanour of a “goodguy” come more naturally to me, but I do enjoythe challenge of trying to write a good villain! Ironically however, I have one character who has given me trouble in both aspects before, and that would be Snowy here (I love my owl son though fgfdghsdga). 

His design (aside from his armour) has changed quite a bit over time, because of both style development and the fact that he ages throughout his story. Getting his face right was the biggest challenge at first, as the original version of him ended up very close to other characters I’d made at the time. Theimage you see here is the one I am satisfied with as far as his aged up versions are concerned,but it’s all very much in development still.

Speaking of which, writing him is another interesting challenge. A character like Cassie iscloser to what you’d think a typical young fantasy adventure protagonist would be: upbeat,colourful, extroverted, a go-getter. Snowy, on the other hand, is much more reserved, level-headed and methodical. That’s not to say that I’d want Snowy to be any different though, andthat’s also not to say that he isn’t motivated either. The challenge comes in understanding howhe would react to certain things, including his motivations. He shares the “silent sufferer” trait that I have whenexperiencing trauma, but he does not possess the same rampant anxiety as I do, so I oftenhave to re-write scenes based on that. He’s not one to immediately panic or have extreme emotional reactions to things, at least not on the outside.

His backstory shaped this in him; he grew up knowing it was best to keep his head down andwork through the pain, but that gets much harder for him to do later on as the stakes gethigher. Even the strongest warrior can only deal with so much when people’s lives are in peril 9times out of 10, much less a young recruit like Snowy. He may not have rampant anxiety, but he does have rampant heroism like hisfather, finding a problem to solve wherever he goes, whether he can solve it or not. But unlikePrince Arvais, he doesn’t do it for the sake of flourish or fame, and therefore doesn’t care muchfor the spotlight. His inherent desire to help does wear on him as he learns of the realities ofbeing a knight, and his wings carry a lot more societal weight than he first realized. I can definitely relate to certain aspects of this setup, but if I were in this situation I would react very differently, and that’s what I have to consider with Snowy’s character.

Another challenge comes in not making him boring either. As I said earlier, having a morereserved character doesn’t always lend itself as easily to an interesting protagonist, but I knowit can be done. It is possible that the other characters with more outward personalities mightseem more interesting than Snowy anyway, but as long as I still give him a well-developed andwell-rounded character, he should do just fine. ;u; I want to do him justice as best I can, even if it requires more re-writes than usual.

22. An OC you didn’t expect to love

Honestly I love all of my OCs by default, but there is one that I wasn’t expecting to getattached to as much as I did, and that would be my boy Scorpio here. :D

I already loved him for his design and concepts of course, but the more I developed hisbackstory in relation to Ophiuchus and his dynamic with Cassie, I ended up making him a moresignificant character than he was in earlier drafts of the story. I am a sucker for the “edgelordmeets the cinnamon roll” dynamic and his slow transition from reluctant mentor to protectivefather/older brother with Cassie is so fun to write. :’D

He’s actually a bit hard to write too, as, like Snowy, I have to really think about how he wouldreact to certain things with a more reserved personality. But in Scorpio’s case, the contrast in personality between him and Cassie lends itself to a lot of good character moments, especiallywhen she can break down his walls a bit and show the lesser-known parts of his personality.Scorpio’s actually a bit of a prankster when in the right mood, so you can be sure he andCassie bond over that once she gets to know him (probably pranking Aries like Capricorn does,or Libra like Gemini does).

I also love writing the initial encounter stuff too, so I think having both is really what made mefall in love with Scorpio’s character as a whole. How he reacts to meeting Cassie does tie intohis connection with Ophiuchus, but that isn’t apparent until much later. Both Cassie’s Starglassand the one that Ophiuchus had give off the same “aura”, so before Scorpio even sees Cassiehe assumes hostility, sensing its presence. But on first impression, one assumes that Scorpiois hostile simply because that’s who he is, a stone-faced scorpion with a deadly glare and evendeadlier weapons. Taking one look at him would give anyone that impression, and Cassie isunderstandably terrified of him at first. This is amplified even further when she finds out he isher mentor, and thus the dynamic begins.

I really enjoyed the idea of Scorpio mentoring Cassie, as that gives Scorpio’s backstory acyclical nature. Ophiuchus was once Scorpio’s mentor, so having a similar job passed to himwith something as important as the Starglass, you can bet Scorpio’s got some extra baggagewhen it comes to that. Scorpio is also on the younger end of the spectrum in terms of agecompared to the rest of the zodiac (in his 20s, I’d say), so even he has some learning to dowhen it comes to teaching others. His zodiac companion, Scutum, was initially assigned to himas a sort of mentor in his early days as a sign as well, and it wasn’t all smooth sailing either.Despite his cool demeanour, Scorpio’s origins paint him as a lot more volatile than one mightthink. Though in the timeline of this story, that volatility only really shows in moments of trueperil, which is definitely present in the final climax. I’ve been fleshing out that part again lately,so it’ll be cool to have it come to light eventually. :’D

[doomedandstoned]

South African Rebel Rousers Ruff Majik Return With Greater Madness!

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

Christelle Duvenage Photography

Here’s a band I haven’t given near enough love to. RUFF MAJIK was one of the clear highlights of last year’s compilation, Doomed & Stoned in South Africa and we also had the opportunity to premiere a single just before the band jetted over to Europe to play with Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma, and The Devil And The Almighty Blues. Johni Holiday (guitar, vox), Jimi Glass (bass guitar), and Benni Manchino (drums) have a very recognizable sound -- the mean sass of Mother Love Bone, the verve of Led Zeppelin, and the boldness of the Melvins, saddled to a very doomed, very stoned warthog drunk on marula fruit and busting straight out of a garage decorated with Electric Wizard, Fu Manchu, and High on Fire posters, somewhere in the vicinity of Pretoria.

Got the picture? No? Fine, call it sludge 'n' roll, then -- sludge 'n' roll with a devilish knack for mischief and an unbridled tendency to call it like you see it. Despite my difficulty in wrapping words around Ruff Majik's approach to music, what matters most is that they're likely to stand out in your mushrooming playlist, because they sound different. Different enough to make you stop what you're doing and ask, "Now who's that track by?"

Building on the momentum of last year's Seasons, Ruff Majik has really been on a roll. Now, they've conjured a new vision: 'Tårn' (2019). By the looks of Anni Buchner's soon to be revealed album art, it has something to do with a tower (and, in fact, that is what the word means in Norwegian). Today, Doomed & Stoned is taking you inside the castle, as it were, for a listen to the album's opening number "Schizophrenic." What's different about this song compared to others in their repertoire is Ruff Majik's decision to dabble in black metal, without ever becoming subservient to it.

As a matter of fact, that's pretty much the case with every genre the band traffics in. Be it stoner, sludge, or punk, these are like toys in the hands of three guys eager to take them out for a joy ride. There are moments when I could hear allusions to The Yardbirds and late-sixties folk rock -- you know, where you'd have a flute solo come in out of the blue. In "Schizophrenic," the guitars seem to take on the folksy character of the wooded instrument, with its whiz and warble. How ingeniously the concept of musical schizophrenia meshes with the lyrical content, too.

Make no mistake about it, though, I'm hanging around for the doom, boys, the doom! Take a song like "I'll Dig The Grave," which is as nasty and muddy as they come, featuring downtuned passages that are almost symphonic in concept. Or its successor, "Dread Breath," which at first blush feels like an old fashioned Soundgarden hoe-down (like "Ty Cobb"), but after it does its stomping, settles down as low to the earth as you could wish for. Ditto to the closer, "Seasoning The Witch," perhaps the dirgiest of doomers on this thirty-six minute spin. Like each of the six songs before it, this charms with an odd, alluring appeal.

I'm beginning to pick up on a distinctive sound and style belonging to Ruff Majik and them alone. Sound engineer Evert Snyman did a stand-up job of capturing the vibe honestly at Backline Studios in Johannesburg. Tårn was mastered in my own backyard of Portland, Oregon by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, who succeeded in bringing out the nuances, without spoiling its grungy sheen. Keep your eyes peeled for the release on May 3rd via Lay Bare Recordings, with pre-orders happening here.

And now to the premiere before us, the first single from Tårn, the aforementioned "Schizophrenic." The music video was shot and edited by Ruff Majik's own Ben Manchino. "Inspired by black metal, Black Sabbath and psychedelia," he tells us, "the video is a visual trip through VHS glitches and over-saturated colours." Frontman Johni Holiday chimes in: "This video was inspired by our love for Immortal, classic black metal videos, and the psychedelic look and feel of the pioneers and current tastemakers in the stoner rock and doom metal scene."

As for the song itself, that links directly Ruff Majik's muse, Black Sabbath. Here the band reimagines the seminal "Paranoid" as a kind of "fuzz-drenched speed metal frenzy, ending in a riff of pure, bleak doom, with some very dirty doom breakdowns at the very end of it." Pay attention to the lyrics, for they are even more "frenzied and terrified than its inspiration, verging on the edge of schizophrenia," the band explains, adding that it is "an ode to Venom as much as it is to Sabbath.” Sounds like just what the psychiatrist ordered to treat the insanity of my week!

If you dig it, show the band some love and pick up the single on Bandcamp, Deezer, iTunes, or any of your other favorite watering holes.

Give ear...

Lyrics

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

Every morning all I hear is doom. She asks me: "Who the hell are you talking to?" I don't know. Have I taken too much, am I out of touch? I can't keep the ghosts away. No it seems they're here to stay.

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

I've seen it all. The churches burn, the cities fall. And when the serpents came they took my mind away. She says: "Your fever's high, have you been dreaming again?" I said: "Lock me away, I believe I've seen the end."

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you lend me a hand? Hay, you looking in through the mirror, won't you understand? I'm losing my mind, and I don't have the time to bury myself, but I don't see nobody else.

Hay you looking into my eyes, won't you understand?

Christelle Duvenage Photography

Some Buzz

In a small, secluded mining town in rural South Africa, three friends heard the call of the void, and spat fuzz back at it. Thus, Ruff Majik was born, and the adventure of sex, drugs and mostly rock ‘n roll began.

Ruff Majik set sail to Pretoria, South Africa, where they’ve become infamous for their lively shows and aggressive on stage persona. With their brand of what they call “stoner rock/sludge ‘n roll” they move between slow grooves and breakneck speeds in the blink of an eye, with live shows being described as ‘whiplash inducing.’

Consisting of three members, Johni Holiday, Jimmy Glass and Ben Manchino make up The Atomic Trinity, the relentless noise machine that is Ruff Majik (blessed be the name). Ruff Majik is a power trio, a stoner juggernaut, and they bring good times with them wherever they go.

The Bear by Ruff Majik

The Fox by Ruff Majik

The Swan by Ruff Majik

The band surfaced in 2015 with the release of their first six-track, 'The Bear.' This got them lots of attention from reviewers all over the world. They quickly followed up with 'The Fox' in 2016, that got them into Classic Rock Magazine with the song "Sodoom and Gomorrah," as well as 100, 000 views on the YouTube of the full album -- and counting.

In 2017, Ruff Majik rounded off the animal trilogy with 'The Swan,' which introduced a heavier side to their sound previously unheard, but very much welcomed by fans. Swiftly after this release, they got to work on the follow up album 'Seasons' (2018), which was released in four segments ('The Hare and the Hollow,' 'A Finch in a Cherry Tree,' 'A Dragon and His Hoard,' and 'The Stag in the Leaves') -- one per season, over the stretch of a year.

Seasons by Ruff Majik

Now there's more coming your way, and it's going to be heavier than ever before. The band are very happy to announce their signing to Dutch label Lay Bare Recordings for new album 'Tårn' (2019), set for release on the 3rd of May. Désirée Hanssen from Lay Bare Recordings is excited about the partnership, “You want magic? We'll give you Majik! Lay Bare Recordings is ecstatic to expand the Lay Bare family, with the power trio Ruff Majik! And let us tell you, their music will excite all your senses! Pure, unstoppable power!”

Guitarist and vocalist Johni Holiday adds, “Ruff Majik are extremely proud and excited to announce that we will be joining the Lay Bare family for the release of our new album, 'Tårn'! Lay Bare have been putting out exciting high-quality records for the last few years and we’re very happy to finally join in on the action!"

Follow The Band

Get Their Music

[bluedraggy]

TSO - As in Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I just went to one of their concerts and it was a visual wonder. Their style is unique and they occupy a niche that no one knew existed. I would describe it as taking themes and melodies - primarily from Christmas carols, but also from other classical sources (most familiarly Pachebel's Canon in D Major) and turning them into rock anthems. The sound is unabashedly 80's Rock with tons of machismo laden bass and distorted guitars, yet with a healthy smattering of violin. They make you wish for long hair you can thrash back and forth with your "Sign of the Horns" fist raised high in old-school heavy metal style, all the while celebrating Christmas of all things.

The concert was scheduled to start at 8 and by 8:15 it was underway, nonstop for two and a half hours and in unrelenting 4/4 time. There wasn't a single song I'd ever heard from them that was missed. While Canon didn't have the children's choir that's associated with it, they more than made up for it with a 10 piece choir. (okay, 9 I guess looking closer at the picture...)

I learned a bit about them before attending the concert. There was genius at work when the concept was created first of all. I doubt anyone but an avid fan could name a single member of the band, which works out great as they now actually are 2 'bands' (that word doesn't sound right, but then neither does 'orchestra') - TSO-East and TSO-West, but all are consummate musicians and showmen. And there was at least one marriage proposal up front. (Understandable actually.)

I really couldn't say how many people make up TSO. Their show is really more of a "Show" with a capital S. And they're not exclusively instrumental either - there were at least 3 separate singers that were all amazing soloists and could rightfully carry a band on their own, but TSO throws in 3. Or 4. Or 12. As for the musicians...

1 thunderous bass player 3 (at least! Easily could have been 4 or more!) guitar players 2 keyboard players 3 (at least!) vocalists - not including the choir 1 nonstop drummer who must be having the time of his life playing 1 sexy violin-ist (is that a word?) that easily rocked with the best of them 10 (guessing here) choir vocalists 6 (again, a guess) local guest 'orchestra' members 1 'MC' who narrated the 1st half's 'story'

And yet at a couple of key points they brought the leader out front who really personalized the band by talking to the audience in a much more casual manner - really a needed break from the perfectionism of the majority of the show which can leave you wondering if these guys are actually human.

Now with a show like this, it's easy to wonder if perhaps there's not some MIDI magic or backing tracks going on, but I really don't think there were. There didn't need to be with so many musicians involved.

But now I have to break away from talking about the 'band' to discuss the light show. It was second to none, and I've seen a few. This is obviously THE state of the art rock show. It helps that their music lends itself so well to visuals too, but I've literally never seen anything like it. Lasers everywhere, live fire displays that warmed my face from even where I was, videos containing all the expected tropes that this style of music evokes (wolves, dragons, helicopters, castles, cgi snow-covered cities, etc.)

They've got some really cool things overhead I can only describe as massive 'circles' with video screens in the center, lights ringing them, and on synchronized supports that make them move around in a way you have to see to appreciate. The ONLY technical problem was that one of the screens on one of these died a little way into the show. It was really no problem, but in any project so massive you'd have to expect SOMETHING to go a little wrong. Certainly nothing else did!

And finally, when the leader of the band stopped to give a shout out to the musicians (he had to do this twice to cover them all!), the sound engineers and the roadies, he said they had something like 112 people helping to set up the stage (although really there are 2 stages in a sense).  The 4 huge raised-platforms that are used in certain songs are vertigo-inducing even from a safe spot on the floor.

I doubt anyone could argue that this may be the absolute pinnacle of this sort of show. Honestly after 2 hours, your eyes begin to bleed from the overload, but it's an experience you cannot forget. No, not all the songs work at the same level as their biggest hits - but none will bore you, that I can promise! Plus you may be surprised at how many you know. Going in I could name about 3, and some mixed together in my head.

And they know their audience. When those 'hits' start, they pull out all the stops. Christmas Canon - unforgettable even without the child choir. Granted, how can you go wrong when you start with Pachebel's Canon in D Major? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cP26ndrmtg

Christmas Eve/ Sarajevo - I didn't know the name of this one, but certainly recognized it when it started! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHioIlbnS_A

Wizards in Winter - How can anyone not know this one, if nothing else from the synchronized Christmas house light-show video that was everywhere a decade ago (2009). A shout out to that guy who first came up with that btw. Must have been a mighty effort back then to do that. The idea has been improved on of course since then, but it's a whole 'nuther thing to come up with it on your own. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWBjl-jPcVM

Requiem (The Fifth) - classic TSO though I'd never heard it. No points for guessing what theme is used for this one though. A bit of a Mozard/Beethoven mash but it works awfully well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsxzBCr2zNM

To end this little reviewishthing, if you get a chance (and, of course, you’d have to like TSO's style), go. You won't regret it.

Oh, also they're American in origin. Not a Russian in sight, though some of the musicians are indeed from Eastern Europe at least. Also, as far as I could tell, no Trans either. Though that female violin player's black leather outfit was pretty hot. :) FWIW I’m sure the specific group I saw was TSO-East.

[brigdh]

Reading Saturday

Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey. Book 6 of The Expanse series. "I made my name with the story on the Behemoth. Aliens and wormhole gates and a protomolecule ghost that only talked to the most famous person in the solar system. I don't think my follow-up to that can be "Humans Still Shitty to Each Other". Lacks panache." That's Monica Stuart, a journalist looking for her next story, but it makes a fairly good summary of Nemesis Games as well – though I'd disagree about it lacking panache. After five books of zombie viruses and a vast galaxy of empty planets for the taking and physics-defying abandoned security systems, Nemesis Games features pretty much no alien content at all. Instead we have humanity reacting to these events, mostly in negative ways that feature them being, well, shitty to each other. The biggest reaction comes from the Belters, millions of humans born and raised in no-gravity or low-gravity. Those conditions have led to extremely low bone-mass (among other physical adaptations), which means all those new planets out there for the taking? The Belters won't be going to them, at least not without months or years of expensive medical therapy that's out of reach for most of them. They can see the future coming, and it's going to abandon them to poverty and irrelevance. They lash out with terrorist attacks on a scale grander than any before, as though enough violence will force humanity back to where it was before the first encounter with the alien protomolecule. That might be an impossible goal, but a hell of a lot of people are going to die anyway. Meanwhile, the spaceship Rocinante is in need of repairs, which means our four main characters are out of action for a few months. They take this opportunity to split up and visit family and old friends – Amos to Earth, Alex to Mars, Naomi to the Belt, and Jim stays with the ship at the repair station. Having separate plotlines means that each one gets their own POV, and you guys, I was so excited! I've been waiting to hear Naomi or Alex's voice since Book One, and this does not disappoint. Amos's narration was particularly well-written; he's a straight-up sociopath (though one who tries to do good nonetheless) and struggles to recognize emotions either in himself or in others, often defaulting to describing social situations as a set of maneuvers toward a desired outcome. It lends his POV a curiously flat tone, but one that is really interesting to read. The four crew members are still separated when the terrorist attacks begin, and most of the emotion in the book comes from them trying to desperately make their way back to one another. Each one thinks of the others as family, as home – this is such an absolute fantastic series for those Chosen Family feels – especially Jim, and who would have thought the boring action hero of Book One could become such an adorable softie? He spends a significant portion of this book being sad that no one will do the space-equivalent of texting him back, and I love him so much. Holden could sit at a tiny table skimming the latest news on his hand terminal, reading messages, and finally check out all the books he’d downloaded over the last six years. The bar served the same food as the restaurant out front, and while it was not something anyone from Earth would have mistaken for Italian, it was edible. The cocktails were mediocre and cheap. It might almost have been tolerable if Naomi hadn’t seemingly fallen out of the universe. Alex sent regular updates about where he was and what he was up to. Amos had his terminal automatically send a message letting Holden know his flight had landed on Luna, and then New York. From Naomi, nothing. She still existed, or at least her hand terminal did. The messages he sent arrived somewhere. He never got a failed connection from the network. But the successfully received message was his only reply. After a couple weeks of his new bad Italian food and cheap cocktails routine, his terminal finally rang with an incoming voice request. He knew it couldn’t be from Naomi. The light lag made a live connection unworkable for any two people not living on the same station. But he still pulled the terminal out of his pocket so fast that he fumbled it across the room. Each character gets to star in a very different genre within this one book: Jim himself is in a political thriller, trying to find the mole hidden in the security forces; Amos is making his way through a post-apocalyptic landscape; Naomi is in a prison-break movie; and Alex gets at least two extremely cool car chases (well, spaceship chases) between being a detective following the paper trail. All of them are great, but I think my favorite is Naomi's, which is an incredible depiction of the harm and suffocation of emotional abuse (gaslighting in particular) and the depression and learned helplessness that can result, especially when everyone around you sees nothing wrong. We get a lot more about her long-awaited backstory, as well as Amos's, and there are reappearances of a lot of my favorite secondary characters: Martian marine Bobbie, failed murderer Clarissa Mao, foul-mouthed politician Chrisjen Avasarala. (Though I'm still holding out hope Prax will show up again someday; I miss him.) All through The Expanse series I've admired Corey's focus on petty human squabbling and politicking in the face of grand, universe-changing discoveries. Nemesis Games is that thread turned up to eleven. It's not a cynical series, though; for every narrow-minded failure there's an equally small but important triumph of friendship or justice or well-meaning. It reminds me of Terry Pratchett, in a way. Not at all in Corey's style of writing or type of humor, but they both have a view of humanity which is simultaneously realistic and fond and exasperated. And if there's a bigger compliment than that, I don't know what it is. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. Book 2 of the Murderbot Diaries. A security robot/cyborg armed with all sorts of guns and other methods of killing has hacked its governor module, allowing it to do whatever it wants, and nicknames itself Murderbot. But it turns out that what Murderbot really wants to do is spend hours watching dumb sci-fi TV shows, avoid eye contact or any social encounters with humans, and not have to deal with its own emotions. Unfortunately that last one is hard to avoid. In this book, Murderbot is heading to a mining planet where it knows something bad went down in its past, involving lots of human deaths. But Murderbot can't remember exactly what happened, since its memory was wiped, and so it's off to investigate. Getting to the planet means hitching a ride on a spaceship run by a massively complicated AI (which Murderbot promptly nicknames ART: Asshole Research Transport) and then getting a job as a human bodyguard to a group of scientists heading down to the planet's surface. Things, unsurprisingly, go wrong, and Murderbot finds itself with another pack of dumb humans in need of protection. I enjoyed Artificial Condition a lot, but it's not quite as good as the first book in the series, All Systems Red. Part of that is very simply that it's a middle book of the series, and it shows; progress in the larger plot is made, but not much, and there's a feeling of spinning our wheels while we wait for big events to happen. That said, it's still an extremely enjoyable novella (only about 120 pages), which builds out the world from what we learned in All Systems Red. Now we have sexbots and ship navigators, more about how different governments interact and function (or don't), and some hints as to what's going on with the company that created Murderbot. Plus there's Murderbot's wonderful narration, which honestly is worth the price of admission all on its own. A section from where it introduces ART to trashy entertainment: I watched seven more episodes of Sanctuary Moon with it hanging around my feed. Then it pinged me, like I somehow might not know it had been in my feed all this time, and sent me a request to go back to the new adventure show I had started to watch when it had interrupted me. (It was called Worldhoppers, and was about freelance explorers who extended the wormhole and ring networks into uninhabited star systems. It looked very unrealistic and inaccurate, which was exactly what I liked.) [...] “It’s not realistic,” I told it. “It’s not supposed to be realistic. It’s a story, not a documentary. If you complain about that, I’ll stop watching.” I will refrain from complaint, it said. (Imagine that in the most sarcastic tone you can, and you’ll have some idea of how it sounded.) So we watched Worldhoppers. It didn’t complain about the lack of realism. After three episodes, it got agitated whenever a minor character was killed. When a major character died in the twentieth episode I had to pause seven minutes while it sat there in the feed doing the bot equivalent of staring at a wall, pretending that it had to run diagnostics. Then four episodes later the character came back to life and it was so relieved we had to watch that episode three times before it would go on. At the climax of one of the main story lines, the plot suggested the ship might be catastrophically damaged and members of the crew killed or injured, and the transport was afraid to watch it. (That’s obviously not how it phrased it, but yeah, it was afraid to watch it.) I was feeling a lot more charitable toward it by that point so was willing to let it ease into the episode by watching one to two minutes at a time. After it was over, it just sat there, not even pretending to do diagnostics. It sat there for a full ten minutes, which is a lot of processing time for a bot that sophisticated. Then it said, Again, please. So I started the first episode again. C'mon, tell me you wouldn't read a million pages of that, plot or no plot.

[DW link for easier commenting]

[okamidensetsu]

-4th Annual Best of List(s)-

The Rest Of The Best (of my acquired toys) of 2016

This is my rest of the best list for 2016. Not all of the toys above were necessarily released in 2016, I just happened to acquire them during that year.

These are the toys I cut out of my top 10…Yes! Top 10 toys of the year. 2016 was the year I purchased the most toys I have ever bought in a given year. And  I’ve said it the past three years jokingly, but it’s been a tradition that I can never stick to a top five toys of the year. But I think due to the pure volume of good toys I’ve been fortunate enough to pick up, I’m finally throwing the top five rule out! But I digress... The toys on “The Rest of the Best” are not in any particular order, although there are 3 on this list that I wanted ever so badly to add to my top 10 that just had to be cut to refrain from having more than a top 10! Thanks for reading and enjoy!

This one is coming in January of 2018!! I’m over a year late!!!! Life certainly got in the way this past year and a half. I didn’t even start photographing these toys til 6 months ago. It’s been rough but I just couldn’t miss a year. I’m happy to start rolling these out finally!

The Rest Of The Best:

10. Star Wars The Black Series - 6″ Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader - I absolutely love this design! The Black Series does this suit justice! I would still love the chance to pick up the S.H. Figuarts version of this one, but TBS gets the job done here. This one has great paint apps and posability! Just a well rounded figure at this price point. My one complaint is the elbow joint, but because of the range of the hand/wrist joint I can pull off lots of poses rather naturally!  

9.  D-SPEC - Metal Gear Rex - I said it in my original post, but at retail pricing, I’m not sure I could recommend this figure. But I feel like the $30 - $50 range is perfect for this one. The pictures do a poor job of getting the overall cuteness of this one across! This is an amazing representation of Rex and all that he represents. The silhouette, despite its super deformed stylings, comes across perfectly. The engineering stuffed into this little form is also impressive. While its transformation into “tank” mode is rather simple (as is the actual transformation in-game), it still gets the job done and comes across really well. I’d highly recommend this one if the price is right!

8.  Figma SP-068b - Sarah Bryant - Ironically this figure looks better than the original release of Virtua Fighter for the Saturn. And that statement alone is why I’m so very excited (as well as thoroughly confused) as to why or how this figure exists! When I saw these get announced, it was an instant pre-order. While it started out as an ironic (but also pricey) purchase the lasting effect was much more than a joke. I love the Figma Virtua Fighter releases. The nostalgia I have for this particular game is undeniable. I played the hell out of the original VF release growing up. Just owning these brings a smile to my face. And seeing them represented on my shelf is a surreal but beautiful thing. But this isn’t just pure nostalgia. This is another silky smooth figma release. Unlike the original game’s release; the janky polygon look really lends itself to GSC’s famous joint system and translates perfectly to an unhindered toy experience. Honestly Akira could have had this slot as well..but Sarah Bryant’s alt outfit is just so badass - it had to be here.

7.  Lego General Grievous - I don’t feature Lego enough on my blog, but Grievous (and another certain set) made me change that almost immediately. The scale of this one is impressive to say the least. Almost a foot tall and boasting an arm span of around the same length, he is a behemoth of construction. And due to how he is constructed (and this goes for the rest of the line) he is very posable and playable! While I can’t say definitively that Grievous is in scale with the rest of his line-mates, he definitely looks it when standing next to the rest of the build-a-figures. Despite how you may feel about the prequels, Grievous has always been a fun character with an awesome design. If you can find it near retail (and especially below) I implore you to pick this one up! I guarantee you will still be impressed by the scale!

6. Transformers Titans Return Deluxe Wolfwire & Monxo - A toy I have dreamed of getting an updated release for years! Growing up with transformers and seeing G1 Weirdwolf for the first time ignited the idea of a grail in my childhood. Fifteen years later and here we are. While the hype for this one passed over me years ago, I was still very excited to be able to get this figure. I pre-ordered this wave months prior to release to just to be sure...and it was all for Wolfwire. This one might be higher on my list if his name were still Weirdwolf. Just kidding. Wolfwire is pretty good too. I was thoroughly impressed with the wolf mode and his robot mode. I am not usually impressed by the posability of a Transformers “vehicle mode” but the quadruped was very emotive! What a treat at the Deluxe scale.

5. Lego Ideas Wall-E - I love Lego. I love Wall-E. This Lego Ideas set was a perfect match. Coming in at a fun and impressive scale, Wall-E is playable in all the ways you’d expect and (just like his on-screen counterpart) incredibly emotive in its subtlety. I mean Wall-E is like 75% eye movement/head nods and this nails it. @approachingfarewell and I had a really great night drinking and building this one together. The one complaint I had was remedied before I even opened the box. The neck joint from the original build is kind of a hot mess, but they include an alternative build in the box. And if for whatever reason you don’t have these instructions, you can pull them up online.

4. Acid Rain - The Taste of Coffee - Acid Rain delivers again. This time a set based on the story that started it all. I gush about this line constantly. This one delivers on everything you would expect: incredible amounts of detail, playability and durability. The new feature here is the gore. I did not want to picture that here but if you wanted to see what that looks like you can click on the link to the original set. I really hope they include gore with future releases as well. It adds another layer of grit to these toys that other lines just don’t have.

3. Play Arts Kai - D-Dog - I freaking love D-Dog! It’s very rare we get a quadruped representation of a given character (and I just so happen to have two on this list)! Usually animal representation is relegated to a small statue or a simplified toy. So not only was it a surprise that this DD was released, but it was also a great figure in its own right. I could get DD to sit..which on its own is very impressive. Not only does this one has a lot of range, but it also boasts lots of great accessories too. You actually have some decent customization/load out options for your desk operations. I got this goodboi on sale and I feel like that was a steal...but also the retail price for all of the PAK these days are just gross. Get this at a price you are comfortable paying and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

2. Transformers Titans Return Legends Gnaw - This was a great year for Legends releases. Another certain Legends release will be featured in my Top 10 but unfortunately this one just missed the cut. This ferocious yet adorable release was one I regret not army building while I had the chance. I might try to get a Takara version that’s how impressed I am with this release! While limited by the sculpt, there is just so much detail and character in this little package it’s really easy to look past these minor grievances and appreciate what is there. But unfortunately there were just some toys that did it better for me. It was really hard for me to put this one lower on my list but I cannot recommend this figure enough. Even if it’s just to have as a little desk buddy.

1. Transformers Titans Return Deluxe Brainstorm - What a shame that this was a limited release. In my opinion this was a better use of the Blurr mold than Blurr himself. The wings of Brainstorm in vehicle mode add so much more to the silhouette that I feel this should have been the Brainstorm mold, and then Blurr could have been the limited release. But that is purely a personal belief. This all comes down to aesthetics, and this one just does it all for me. I mean look at that cockpitcone-gunshield thing! It looks fantastic in vehicle mode and held in robot mode. And the colors. If you were to put Brainstorm’s colors on a pallet wheel I wouldn’t even know where to begin but they sure made them work here. It breaks up the sculpt incredibly well. I love this figure. It was so hard to take this off my Top 10..but alas here we are. The top 10 starts here!

Thank you for reading! I will start posting my Top Toys of 2016 soon!

『Toys of The Year 2016』